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Issue of Appointment of Repporteur on Political Prisoners Causes Tension in Azerbaijan and Council of Europe Relations

Society Materials 30 March 2008 16:14 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, 30 March / corr. Trend S. Ilhamgizi/ The fact that international and internal forces use human right problems in Azerbaijan to harm the image of the country is inadmissible, Samad Seyidov, the head of the Azerbaijani delegation in PACE said to media on 30 March.

The opposition parties and human rights organizations of Azerbaijan demand the Council of Europe an appointment of a reporter on the political prisoners.

Seyidov said that this demand leads to the deterioration of relations between Azerbaijan and Council of Europe. "No one denies that there are human rights problems in Azerbaijan. The Council of Europe takes advantage of the situation and criticizes Azerbaijan while it turns a blind eye to the closure of the media outlets in Armenia. It shows that the Council of Europe uses double standards. CE says that there are political prisoners in Azerbaijan, while tens of people arrested during the demonstration are not considered political prisoners," Seyidov said.

According to Seyidov, there are no political prisoners in Azerbaijan and the government works to solve human right problems. "Therefore there is no need for CE sanctions in connection with the situation of human rights in Azerbaijan and the appointment of repporteur on the political prisoners," Seyidov said.

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