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Resolution 1272 (2002)
Political prisoners in Azerbaijan
1. On becoming a member of the Council
of Europe, Azerbaijan freely accepted the firm commitment, essential
under international law, set out in paragraph 14.iv.b of Opinion
No. 222 (2000), namely “to release or to grant a new trial to those
prisoners who are regarded as ‘political prisoners’ by human rights
protection organisations, especially Mr Iskander Gamidov, Mr Alikram
Gumbatov and Mr Raqim Gaziyev”. In January 2001 the Committee on
Legal Affairs and Human Rights was seized with a motion for a recommendation
(Doc 8919)
renewing the concern of twelve members of the Assembly about the
fate of political prisoners in Azerbaijan.
2. The Azerbaijani authorities had been aware of these requirements
at least since the meeting of the Committee on Legal Affairs and
Human Rights held in Cyprus on 22 May 2000, on which date that committee adopted
its opinion on Azerbaijan’s application for membership of the Council
of Europe.
3. The Parliamentary Assembly appreciates the initiative taken
by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to ask three experts
to prepare a confidential opinion on the cases of presumed political
prisoners in Armenia and Azerbaijan. In
this connection, it considers that the objective criteria adopted
to define political prisoners in these two countries are valid.
4. The Assembly acknowledges that, to date, some 220 presumed
political prisoners have been released, including 6 of the 17 recognised
as such in the report of the experts appointed by the Secretary
General.
5. The Assembly takes note of the pardons granted by the President
of the Republic of Azerbaijan in a decree of 29 December 2001, whereby
57 prisoners were released, including 29 regarded as political prisoners by
non-governmental organisations, but none of those from the more
limited list of experts appointed by the Secretary General.
6. The Assembly welcomes the readiness of the Azerbaijani authorities
in their commitment undertaken on 3 January 2002 to participate,
in the framework of an appropriate body of the Assembly, in the
work aimed at case-by-case settlement of the problems of each alleged
political prisoner in Azerbaijan.
7. Despite these encouraging results, the Assembly asks Azerbaijan
to show a stronger political will to solve the problem in its entirety.
8. With regard to the three prisoners named in Opinion No. 222
(2000), the Assembly takes note of the decision taken by the General
Prosecutor, on 26 December 2001, to submit their convictions for reconsideration
at the Court of Appeal. The Assembly nevertheless asks Azerbaijan
to give renewed consideration to the political expediency of releasing
them, in order to avoid reviving tensions of the past. Also, the
very serious state of health of two of them could be taken into
consideration to grant them a release for humanitarian reasons.
9. The Assembly reiterates and emphasises that the rules of
a fair hearing, as set down in the European Convention on Human
Rights and clarified in the case-law of the European Court of Human
Rights, must be complied with in every case. Thus, if persons are
to be retried, as called for in Opinion No. 222 (2000), the judicial
investigation must be started again from the beginning. Furthermore,
those accused shall have the right to the assistance of a defence
counsel of their choice from the very start of the proceedings.
Trials shall be public and freely accessible to observers from international
organisations and NGOs.
10. The Assembly also asks for the release of the remaining political
prisoners on the list of seventeen pilot cases recognised as such
by the experts appointed by the Secretary General, that is to say
case No. 5 (Amiraslanov Elchin Samed oglu), case No. 7 (Efendiyev
Natig Islam oglu), case No. 14 (Imranov Nariman Shamo oglu), case
No. 15 (Kazymov Arif Nazir oglu), case No. 16 (Abdullayev Qalib
Jamal oglu), case No. 17 (Guseynov Suret Davud oglu), case No. 18
(Safikhanov Ilgar) and case No. 25 (Guseynov Guseynbala).
11. In addition, and as a gesture of goodwill, the Assembly asks
for the review of the cases of those alleged political prisoners
in favour of whom the Rapporteur of the Committee on Legal Affairs
and Human Rights argued before the authorities during his visit
to Baku on 27 and 28 December 2001 (Mrs Lebedeva, Mrs Sikhmaz and
MM. Muzakir Abdullayev, Janmirza Mirzoyev and Aydin Shirinov).
12. The Assembly reiterates that there can be no political prisoners
in any member state of the Council of Europe.
13. The Assembly reserves the right to take any appropriate measures
at its disposal in order to persuade the Azerbaijani authorities
of the need to release or retry any prisoner regarded as a political
prisoner, in accordance with the commitment entered into at the
time of the country’s accession.
14. The Assembly resolves to hold information debates on the presumed
political prisoners in Azerbaijan, and to offer interested media
outlets the opportunity to broadcast these on television and radio
throughout the country.