2008 ORDINARY SESSION

________________________

(Third part)

REPORT

Twenty-first Sitting

Tuesday 24 June 2008 at 10 a.m.

Mr HERKEL (Estonia). – We should ask why we have this report just a little more than one year after our previous report and four months before presidential elections in Azerbaijan. Our concern is about human rights and democratisation. Unfortunately, the human rights situation has deteriorated, especially as regards freedom of expression, a free media and journalism, and that can undermine the positive developments, which we would also like to emphasise.

We welcome the adoption of the revised law on freedom of assembly just a couple of weeks before our part-session. We also welcome the fact that a law on money laundering and to counter the financing of terrorism is under consideration in the Azerbaijan Parliament. We hope that that will be adopted as soon as possible.

A revised version of the electoral code has been adopted. That was one of the basic recommendations that was made by us and the Venice Commission. I must admit that not all the basic recommendations were fully addressed by the parliament and there are still problems about the composition of electoral committees, the Central Electoral Commission and the commissions on territories and precincts. There is also the question of how to resolve complaints, which remains open. That means that the management of the process before elections and during elections will very much depend on the political culture and how democratic principles are followed. Therefore, all was not adopted in the best possible way.

It is very important to emphasise the position of arrested journalists. I would like to repeat in this hall again the names of Eynulla Fatullayev, Ganimat Zahidov and Sakit Zahidov – journalists who have been arrested, sentenced and imprisoned. That is not creating a favourable atmosphere just before the elections. Eynulla Fatullayev was editor-in-chief of two newspapers, Realny Azerbaijan and Gundelik Azerbaijan. For economic reasons, the newspapers have closed down and he has been imprisoned for eight and a half years. The same story applies to the chief editor of Azadliq newspaper, Ganimat Zahidov. That newspaper is still published but the staff have been reduced to a very small number, and a basic problem remains. The satirical journalist, Sakit Zahidov, has also been imprisoned. We list in our appendix the different prisoners whom we visited. There are probably some criminal elements, but there are very strong political accusations. We would especially like to address the issue of humanitarian treatment for sick prisoners, whose names appear in our resolution and in the appendices.