AGO GROUP CRITICAL ABOUT ARRESTS OF JOURNALISTS IN AZERBAIJAN – CHAIR
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Dec 4 2007
France, Strasburg / Òrend corr A. Maharramli, S. Ilhamgizi / Trend’s
interview with the chair of the Ago Monitoring Group of the Ministerial
Committee of the Council of Europe, permanent representative of Sweden
to the Council of Europe, Pier Sjorgen..
Question: How well does Azerbaijan implement its obligations to the
Council of Europe?
Answer: Azerbaijan made great progress in fulfilment of its obligations
to the Council of Europe (CE). The progress made especially in
legislation after Azerbaijan entered the CE should be recognized,
but it still requires more improvement. The Ago Monitoring Group
constantly negotiates with the Azerbaijani Government, opposition,
NGOs, Ombudswoman and other structures and institutions of the country,
as well as with the Azerbaijani permanent representation in the CE.
I will speak on three areas connected to Azerbaijan which are
considered to be important – judicial system, media, and election
issues.
Last year we paid special attention to the judicial system of
Azerbaijan. A round table on ways of improvement to the judicial
system, independence of attorneys, prosecutors and judges, their
education and training took place in Baku for this purpose. Different
supportive programs and events will be implemented in this field.
Along with a continuation of the work in the judicial system,
special attention will be paid to the mass media. We are concerned
about the state of the media in Azerbaijan and we believe that the
situation should be improved. We are critical about the arrests of
journalists, long-term arrests. We are alarmed about the fact that
several journalists were arrested within a year. This issue is of
great importance for the CE, as it is directly linked to freedom
of expression. We want changes to be made in some laws envisaging
responsibility for defamation.
The issue of training journalists is also unresolved. Special programs
on support to train amongst journalists are planned to be implemented.
The third significant field we are working on is elections. Next year
will be remarkable for Azerbaijan as the presidential elections will
take place. We want the election to be free and democratic. For that
purpose first of all the items of the Election Code must completely
comply with the recommendations of the Venice Commission. An intensive
dialogue on the improvement of the Election Code is underway between
the Azerbaijani Government, Azerbaijani Parliament and the Venice
Commission. The composition of election committees is the centre of
attention. Freedom of meetings and how this is reflected in legislation
is very important. The second very important point in elections is that
in order to provide transparency and justice, elections should be held
under control. The presidential elections to take place in Azerbaijan
will naturally be controlled by an international observation mission.
Political prisoners are still a problematic matter. The members of the
working group state that there are political prisoners, representatives
of the Government and NGOs in Azerbaijan. We very positively treat
that working group which is a joint initiative of the Government and
civil society, but we would like to see its more active work.
Question: How do you assess the results of the round table on the
Election Code which took place in Baku in November?
Answer: According to the Venice Commission, a good round table
took place in Baku in November. They said in the Commission that
the round table and workshops went in the right direction. I think,
through discussions over the composition of election committees and
election complaints are advancing in the right direction, there are
still uncoordinated issues and the work is not yet complete.
Question: Which questions were reflected in the report developed
during the Ago Group’s visit to Azerbaijan in July this year?
Answer: In July of this year the report with conclusions we made
during the visit was submitted to the CE Ministerial Committee. We
paid special attention to the judicial system.
Question: When will your next visit to Azerbaijan take place?
Answer: Our next visit is planned to take place in the spring of next
year, but the exact date for the visit has not been set yet. During
the visit we will focus on the elections in Azerbaijan, the media
and the judicial system. The Nagorno-Karabakh problem and persons
considered to be political prisoners will also be discussed.
Question: What priority is the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict for the Ago Group?
Answer: The Nagorno-Karabakh issue is important for us. We attentively
observe the conflict as far as possible. In order to get information
on the course of peaceful negotiations we always keep in touch with
the OSCE Minsk Group. But our mandate envisages only support to a
peaceful settlement process and formation of an environment necessary
for a peaceful settlement. We deal with the issue only in terms of
human rights.
Question: Armenia states that religious elements lie in the root
of the conflict and tries to exaggerate this side of the issue. How
much does that comply with the dialogue among religions which is so
encouraged by CE?
Answer: We believe that dialogue among religions sometimes may be an
element of conflict settling. However, in most conflict situations that
is just a part of the problem. Conflicts have political, historical
and other aspects and special attention should be paid to them. The
visit of a group of Azerbaijani cultural people to Nagorno-Karabakh
and Armenia this year attracted my attention. Such initiatives are
important for encouragement of talks.
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