Domestic

Home page

Domestic

PACE membersâ€™ report cover Azerbaijan as well

18 April 2007 15:51 (UTC +04:00)

â€œOnly Russia and Azerbaijan from the Council of Europe member states have not yet signed the protocol on abolishment of death penalty in all conditions,â€ says the report drawn up by the member of PACE Standing Committee on legal affairs, parliamentarian from Cyprus Kristos Purgurid, APAâ€™s correspondent reports. Kristos Purgurid said that Azerbaijan only ratified 6th protocol of the convention on abolition of death penalty.
â€œThe document envisages abolition of death penalty in the state of peace and the 13th protocol the abolition of death penalty in all conditions. Unlike Azerbaijan, Russia signed none of them. Moratorium has been imposed on death penalty in Russia,â€ the report says.
The report also says that Azerbaijanâ€™s law system is not independent. The rapporteur wrote that the problem of political prisoners have not been solved in Azerbaijan yet.
â€œAzerbaijan undertook commitment on releasing or reconsidering the cases of the persons recognized as â€œpolitical prisonersâ€ by human rights organizations. Council of Europe Monitoring Committee closely follows the implementation of this process,â€ he said.
The report praises appointment of judges by voting and says that this factor will have a positive influence on the development of justice system. Point on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is also reflected in the report.
â€œThere still are some separatist territories in the South Caucasus, including Nagorno Karabakh. These territories are not recognized by international community,â€ the report says.
Issue on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict has also been reflected in the report drawn up by Andreas Gross, former co-rapporteur of the Monitoring Committee for Azerbaijan.
The report says that there are some uncontrolled territories - black holes in Europe where mechanisms of the Council of Europe do not work. Andreas Gross included Belarus, Nagorno Karabakh, Transnestria, South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus into the list of â€œblack holesâ€. He noted that these territories are beyond control of the states they belong to, therefore these countries can not rule these separatist territories. /APA/