10:38, 2 July 2008

Human rights activists: Azerbaijani authorities manage to suppress critics even in Europe

The inflow of petrodollars allows the authorities of Azerbaijan to suppress critical voices not only at home but even abroad, for example, in Europe. This was a conclusion made by a group of Azerbaijani human rights activists who observed the work of the PACE summer session in Strasbourg.

Saida Godzhamanlu, head of the Bureau for Human Rights and Law Observance, the report made by the rapporteurs of the PACE Monitoring Committee for Azerbaijan Andres Herkel (Estonia) and Evgenia Zhivkova (Bulgaria) was sharply critical and covered all the spheres connected with human rights.

On the basis of this report, the resolution named "On Functioning of Democratic Institutes in Azerbaijan" was accepted, which appealed the authorities of Azerbaijan to release 3 journalists and 5 political prisoners from custody and to take measures to ensure the democratic character of the presidential election forthcoming in October.

However, as Ms Saida Godzhamanlu has noted, the session revealed the trend among a number of European MPs to support the stand of Azerbaijani authorities.

Author: Faik Medzhid, CK correspondent