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PACE President RenÃ© van der Linden: We pay attention to the state of media in Azerbaijan

01 October 2007 13:29 (UTC +04:00)

APAâ€™s European bureau correspondent reports that answering the question about the state of media in Azerbaijan, PACE president spoke more about the problem of political prisoners.
â€œRelease of all political prisoners is very important for all the members of the Council of Europe. Conception of political prisoners can not be accepted. We have noted it several times, besides, I met with the members of Azerbaijani delegation and drew their attention to the problem,â€ he said.
RenÃ© van der Linden mistakenly spoke of Leo Platvoet, PACE rapporteur on missing persons, as co-rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan.
â€œI hope that we will have a new rapporteur after Mr. Platvoet. I also hope that the new rapporteur on political prisoners will have firm position. We think that this problem is very important for all the countries, especially for the members of the Council of Europe,â€ he said.
RenÃ© van der Linden said that the problem of political prisoners impede all debates. He cited Belarus as an example.
â€œI told Belarus leadership that one of the first conditions to continue the talks is to release political prisoners,â€ he said.
Mr. Linden also noted that there is not a special issue on the state of media and political prisoners in Azerbaijan on the agenda. He also added that they are aware of this problem in member states and pay attention to it.
PACE President noted that they do not approve the arrest of journalists and persons in political activity.
â€œWe pay attention to the problems and try to get additional information. I will discuss these issues while meeting with speaker of Azerbaijani parliament Ogtay Asadov on October 3,â€ he said.
RenÃ© van der Linden answered the question about 2008 presidential elections in Azerbaijan, saying that PACE observation mission will observe the elections.
â€œAs a rule observers will be sent to the country before the elections,â€ he said. /APA/