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Human Rights Activists of Azerbaijan and PACE co-reporter Develop Facts of Torture Working Group

Politics Materials 4 February 2008 15:02 (UTC +04:00)
Human Rights Activists of Azerbaijan and PACE  co-reporter Develop Facts of Torture Working Group

Azerbaijan, Baku, 4 February / corr. Trend K. Ramazanova/ The human right activists of Azerbaijan and PACE co-reporter on Azerbaijan, Andreas Herkel, currently in Baku, coordinated the establishment of the working group on the investigation of torture allegations. The human rights activist Elchinb Behbudov and Saida Gojamanli said to journalists after his meeting with the co-reporter.

According to Gojamanli, Azerbaijan needs to solve these problems before the next meeting of PACE to be held on 13 March.

Four men were the victims of torture in 2007 in Azerbaijan. The yearly summary report was submitted to the Council of Europe, the Commission against Torture of UN, the International Organization Against Torture, OSCE and Azerbaijani Government by the Azerbaijani Committee Against Torture said.

The chairman of the committee, Elchin Behbudov, said that the vast majority of those who died as a result of torture are soldiers serving in the military units of the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan.

The report says that some 63 people were subjected to torture in 2007. The majority of cases involving physical torture occurred in police offices. According to Behbudov, the cases of torture occurred in police offices during an inquest.

The number of torture cases remains the same in comparison with previous years. The chairman of the committee said that an increase in the number torture allegations is attributed to the victim's willingness to discuss the situation. In most cases, institutions where physical torture occurred do not disclose these facts.

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