France, Paris, 24 January / Trend corr. A.Maharramli / The PACE Committee of Human rights did not approve the list of candidates submitted by Azerbaijan, Ukraine, San-Marino and Luxemburg, Jean-Paul Costa, the chairman of the European Court of Human rights, stated to Trend. Costa added that the subcommittee submitted a report to PACE, which would be announced in the near future.
Touching upon the selection of judges, Costa noted that the Committee put forward the highest criteria on the judges, those holding outstanding human rights protection experience, as well as knowledge of one of the languages of the European Court and other criteria. "The candidates were highly qualified as well as legally and linguistically trained," he stated.
"Personally, I respect the independence and sovereignty of the subcommittee and PACE's decision, but feel that the excessive conditions put forward for the candidates is unnecessary. We may even witness that most countries will not be represented in the European Court in the future," Costa said.