08 October 2003, 17:00
Sergey Kovalyov: "The Council of Europe diverges from its democracy support commitments"
"The attitude towards Azerbaijan is evidence of it," noted Sergey Kovalyov, a well-known Russian human rights activist, member of the Russian delegation at the PACE, while granting an interview to a "Turan" correspondent. The pre-election situation in Azerbaijan is such that it should have been brought up for discussion of the Council of Europe first of all. However the PACE made an absolutely "illogical" decision instead. It put off this matter till the period after the presidential elections.
In the human rights defender's opinion, the reason of it is that the Council of Europe and other European organizations make "compromises" on the issues where they should evince their firmness. "I mean the superiority of law and democracy above all. But in practice we see the superiority of political interests and political expediency, and it is a serious deviation from fundamental principles of the Council of Europe itself," stressed Sergey Kovalyov.
On the whole he raised deep concern about the future of the Southern Caucasus as gross breaches of democracy took place in all the three countries of the region. While answering a question about the situation on the eve of the presidential elections in Azerbaijan, the Russian human rights activist called it "frightening"...
Source: TURAN Information Agency (Azerbaijan)
