Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
By Elchin Mehdiyev – Trend:
When Azerbaijan brings its fair position to the attention of the world community, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) resorts to sanctions, Chairman of the Azerbaijani Parliamentary Committee for International and Inter-Parliamentary Relations, Head of the Azerbaijani Delegation to PACE Samad Seyidov said.
He made the remarks at a session of the Azerbaijani Parliament May 18 commenting on PACE’s application of sanctions against him.
He noted that the PACE decision on application of sanctions is unfair.
“When people who hold high positions in the PACE violate the law, no sanctions are applied against them,” he said. “This means double standards, and such a decision of PACE can be described as exerting pressure on Azerbaijan. We are on the right path. This is not a shortcoming, but an honor for me, because I defend the interests of Azerbaijan.”
Following the hearings in Paris on May 15, the PACE Committee on Rules of Procedure decided that sanctions should apply to four PACE members - Pedro Agramunt (Spain) for a period of 10 years, Cezar Florin Preda (Romania), Samad Seyidov (Azerbaijan) and Jordi Xuclà (Spain) for a period of two years.
All four, while remaining members of the Assembly with the right to speak, will be banned during these periods from acting as rapporteurs or election observers, and cannot be chairs or vice-chairs of any committees or sub-committees, or stand for election as president of the Assembly.
They will be unable to represent the Assembly or its committees at any third-party events.