Azerbaijan, Baku, 3 April / corr. Trend K. Ramazanova/ The Council of Europe (CE) is concerned about the mass media situation in Azerbaijan and it calls on the government not go beyond the organization's standards and to protect the rights of the media, Pier Sergen, the chairman of Committee of Ministers of Council of Europe and the Head of Ago Monitoring Group said to the media on 3 April after its meeting with Azerbaijani opposition members.
"We want CE member states to follow the standards of organization and to fulfill all the obligations taken before the CE," said Sergen.
He expressed his concern about the pre-election situation in Azerbaijan. "We are also concerned about the people who are imprisoned," said the Head of CE Committee of Ministers. The Monitoring Group discussed these issues with the opposition members of Azerbaijan.
The Head of Monitoring Group said that his visit aims at studying the process of fulfillment of commitments taken by Azerbaijan. Within their visit, the CE representatives plan to meet with country officials and the arrested Azerbaijani journalists.
Three journalists are currently detained in Azerbaijan. Some mass media members have demanded fair and impartial consideration of their cases, the release of their detained colleagues, the introduction of concrete mechanism of protection of political prisoners and have gone on hunger strike as a protest against the pressures on the press.
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