Azerbaijan, Baku / Тrend corr I. Alizadeh / The appointment of a new rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is unlikely, the deputy head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, MP Gultakin Hajiyeva, reported on 22 May in Baku.
"The mandate on political prisoners in Azerbaijan has been closed as the problem was resolved and the political prisoners indicated in the list of political prisoners, which was submitted to the Council of Europe, (CE) have been released. At the present the CE Committee on legal issues and human rights does not have this mandate," Hajiyeva added.
MP did not rule out the possibility of individual cases of human rights infringement. The discussion of individual facts is possible within the framework of the PACE Monitoring Committee. "The issue on political prisoners has lost its urgency and cannot be included into the agenda of the CE," MP urged.
The PACE co-rapporteur on Azerbaijan, Estonian MP Andres Herkel believes that the rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan can be appointed in view of frequent detentions of journalists. According to Herkel, the problem of political prisoners has not been resolved in Azerbaijan.