European non-profit organization “European Stability Initiative” demands the resignation of PACE co-rapporteur Pedro Agramunt for a biased report and concealment of the whole truth about authoritarian Azerbaijan. The fourteen-page report “Monitoring Azerbaijan or why Pedro Agramunt should resign” is published on the website of the “European Stability Initiative”.
The authors of the ESI report note that on Wednesday, January 23, PACE will consider two reports on Azerbaijan: one on political prisoners and one on the “honouring of obligations and commitments by Azerbaijan.” As noted by ESI, the report is the first such report written since the Spaniard Pedro Agramunt and the Maltese Joseph Debono Grech were appointed, in 2010 and 2009, as monitoring rapporteurs for Azerbaijan.
There are very few fellow members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) who have been to Azerbaijan as regularly over the past decade as Pedro Agramunt, the conservative Spanish senator, a businessman from Valencia. Agramunt has been consistent in this approach to Azerbaijan: from the very beginning of his relationship with Baku he has been a defender of the Aliyev regime. The latest monitoring report is his masterpiece.
This report, in their opinion, is the result of hard efforts to hide a simple truth, and just an attempt at deception: in all spheres, democracy can not exist without free and fair elections, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and basic political and civil liberties. The situation in Azerbaijan was terrible 10 years ago and now it’s worse, is said in the document “Monitoring Azerbaijan or why Pedro Agramunt should resign.”
The ESI report says that the first sentence of the Agramunt and Grech’s report states some progress in Azerbaijan in the field of democracy and human rights protection, but only three examples are provided, which are the only illustration of positive reforms in the whole forty-page report. Moreover, the authors of the ESI report assert that these reforms do not affect the authoritarian nature of power in Azerbaijan.
“Besides these hollow examples of progress the report cites not one positive step concerning these core Council of Europe commitments: elections, party pluralism, separation of powers, local democracy, elimination of torture and ill-treatment, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, freedom of association, freedom of religion, alternative military service, or protection of minorities” European Stability Initiative reports.
“The two rapporteurs evidently faced a dilemma. They could not find signs of progress, since there was none. Instead they cite things that happened earlier and made little difference, describe them as “major”, and sum it up in an eye-catching first sentence in the executive summary. It is an impressive sleight of hand. It is also deeply dishonest” ESI reports.
In the whole report there is no mention of the fact that the authorities in Baku continue to deny even the possibility that political prisoners might exist – and that they totally stone-walled the PACE rapporteur for political prisoners.
As it is said in the document, overall this style and organisation of the material is like putting lipstick on a pig, ignoring the increasing level of repression in all areas by an openly authoritarian regime. This goes against the Council of Europe’s clearly defined standards. In the early 1990s the Council of Europe identified a number of clear benchmarks that every one of its members was expected to meet. Holding “free and fair” elections is one; ensuring freedom of thought and expression is another. As the heads of government of its member states declared at a summit in Vienna in October 1993. By these criteria Azerbaijan is not a democracy today, however far one stretches the definition.
“It would be better for Pedro Agramunt to resign from his position as PACE’s rapporteur for Azerbaijan, rather than stay in this position until 2015. Such a step would also allow Council of Europe monitors to again play a meaningful role in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has never needed a credible monitoring procedure more than now.” ESI reports.
Source: panorama.am