Co-rapporteur: PACE report on Azerbaijan to be prepared as soon as possible

Our goal is to be neutral, objective and independent in the report, which will be made following a visit to Azerbaijan, co-rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on Azerbaijan Pedro Agramunt said to a press conference in Baku.

"It is too early to make conclusions. For a full evaluation, it is necessary to analyze all the material collected during the meetings in Baku," he said.

Agramunt and other co-rapporteur for the country, MP from Malta Joseph Debono Grech conclude a four-day visit to Baku on Thursday. During the visit it was planned to monitor the situation after the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan in November, assess progress made towards the release of so-called political prisoners.

According to the co-rapporteurs, the report will be prepared as soon as possible, most likely in the coming months.

According to Agramunt, over the past three days, the co-rapporteurs held open and honest meetings with the representatives of government agencies, opposition and NGOs, as well as religious organizations.

Meeting was not conducted with the two opposition parties - Musavat and the Popular Front Party, as they refused to meet," said co-rapporteur of PACE Monitoring Committee on Azerbaijan Pedro Agramunt.

"I think that the refusal of the Musavat and the Popular Front Party to meet with us is not right, since the dialogue is necessary," he said.

According to him, this is the second time they refused to meet with him. The first refusal was during Agramunt's visit to Azerbaijan as part of the preliminary observation mission of the Council of Europe. Representatives explained that this is their strategy.

The previous report of the Monitoring Committee on Azerbaijan's fulfillment of obligations before the CoE was published in 2005.

During the visit to Baku, the co-rapporteurs met with Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament Oktay Asadov, Minister of Justice and Minister of National Security, Prosecutor General, the Chairman of the Supreme Court, the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, Chairman of the CEC, representatives of political parties, the Ombudsman, representatives of local NGOs and media outlets, representatives local organizations in Sumgayit city.

Also on Thursday, co-rapporteurs met with the former chief editor of 'Real Azerbaijan' Eynulla Fatullayev who is under arrest, and his father.


/Trend/