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Joint Working Group on Implementation of International Standards of Human Rights surprised at allocation of funds by Norway on issue of political prisoners in Azerbaijan

02 November 2011 12:17 (UTC +04:00)

APA reports that member of the Belgian Constitutional Court Jean-Paul Moerman said this at the press conference held on the outcomes of the working groupâ€™s conference on November 2. He said there are 55 officially registered opposition parties and tens of independent pro-opposition newspapers in the country.
â€œThe role of the opposition parties in the civil society is considerably increasing in Azerbaijan. There is freedom of expression and democracy,â€ he said.

Jean-Paul Moerman said some of the Azerbaijani members gave information about the project supported by the Norwegian government on â€œDetermination of political prisoners in Azerbaijan basing on the criteria of the Council of Europe and UN and creation of database about themâ€ and said Eynulla Fatullayev was going to submit the list of the Azerbaijani political prisoners basing on the criteria of the UN and the Council of Europe on November 4. According to Moerman, it is required to explain the notion of political prisoners on the international level and institute norms. He underlined that the foreign coordinators of the working groups were shocked by the step taken by Norway and regarded it as wrong.

The final statement of the Joint Working Group says that interference of a member of the Council of Europe in the internal affairs of another member state is inadmissible.
â€œThe states have the right to discuss such issues only on the level of the Council of Europe. Neither universal, nor regional international organizations have adopted documents explaining the notion of political prisoner. This notion has not been determined in the international law. It causes regret that government agencies of Norway, one of the developed European states, signed and allocated funds for the doubtful project that will be implemented in Azerbaijan,â€ the statement says.