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Resolution 1614 (2008)
The functioning of democratic institutions in Azerbaijan
1. Growing oil and natural gas exports
have strengthened the economy of Azerbaijan. With the gross domestic
product growing by 25% in 2007, the Azerbaijani authorities are
facing a major challenge as they try to transform important dividends
from the oil business into the sustainable development of society.
2. On 15 October 2008, Azerbaijan will hold its second presidential
election since its accession to the Council of Europe. Considering
that none of the elections held since accession have generally met
basic democratic standards, the Parliamentary Assembly considers
the forthcoming ballot to be crucial for Azerbaijan’s democratic
credibility. Azerbaijan cannot afford to fall short of meeting Council
of Europe commitments and standards for democratic elections once
again.
3. When joining the Council of Europe in 2001, Azerbaijan clearly
opted for European standards with respect to democracy, the rule
of law and human rights. The Assembly has been following the developments in
the country closely and notes that a number of reforms are under
way, in co-operation with the Council of Europe.
4. However, the Assembly considers that the success of the reforms
is less a matter of the letter of the law than a matter of its implementation
and can only express great concern about the deteriorating human
rights situation, which undermines any efforts made by the authorities
to meet basic democratic standards in the forthcoming presidential
election.
5. The Azerbaijani society needs concrete reconciliation measures
in order to foster the process of democratisation. Much remains
to be done to ensure that the parliament plays its role as a public
forum for political debate. Dialogue should be urgently established
between the ruling majority and the opposition, both inside and
outside parliament, if the political climate in the country is to
be improved and the population’s confidence in the electoral process
restored.
6. The Assembly regrets that the main opposition parties did
not participate in a discussion of amendments to the Electoral Code
of Azerbaijan concerning the composition of the electoral commissions
and the complaints and appeals procedures.
7. The Assembly calls on all opposition parties to take part
fully in the electoral process and to appoint urgently the two remaining
members of the Central Electoral Commission.
8. Furthermore, the Assembly urges the Azerbaijani authorities
to guarantee the opposition’s right to hold public rallies.
9. Restrictions on the freedom of expression, the harassment
and intimidation of opposition journalists through defamation court
proceedings, imprisonment, physical attacks and threats, as well
as limitations to the right to freedom of assembly and association,
are matters of great concern and are considered by the Assembly
as inadmissible in a Council of Europe member state. In order for
Azerbaijan to honour its obligations and commitments to the Council
of Europe, these issues must be addressed without further delay
and before the next presidential election.
10. The Assembly condemns the recurrent attacks against the opposition
newspaper Azadliq and in particular
the arrests, judicial proceedings and incidents of violence against
its reporters and staff, as well as intimidation through financial
pressure. It urges the Azerbaijani authorities to ensure the effective
prosecution of perpetrators of all attacks against journalists,
including a proper investigation into the case of reporter Agil Khalil,
who was recently stabbed by unknown assailants.
11. Corruption in the judicial system and the lack of independence
of the judiciary remain serious problems in Azerbaijan, as the authorities
themselves acknowledge. The shortcomings of the Azerbaijani judicial
system continue to give rise to cases of arbitrary and politically
motivated trials and imprisonments. In this regard, the Assembly
welcomes the constructive attitude of the Azerbaijani authorities
and asks them to enhance their efforts to effectively eradicate
corruption among judges, to further reform and train the judiciary
and to improve its negative image in the country.
12. Numerous cases of ill-treatment and allegations of torture
by law-enforcement officials during police custody or pre-trial
investigations, as well as in the army, for the purpose of extracting
confessions or obtaining incriminating statements from witnesses,
continue to be reported. Regrettably, investigations into such behaviour
have rarely led to the prosecution of officers who have committed
such abuses.
13. Recalling its Resolutions 1457 (2005) on the follow-up to Resolution 1359 (2004) on political prisoners in Azerbaijan, and 1545 (2007)
on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Azerbaijan, the
Assembly does not consider the issue of political prisoners to have
been resolved, despite efforts made by the Azerbaijani delegation
to the Assembly to find a definitive solution to this issue, within
the framework of the task force composed of representatives of the
authorities and human rights defenders.
14. The Assembly takes note of the presidential pardon decrees
of 28 December 2007 and 18 March 2008, which led to the release
of 114 and 59 prisoners, respectively, including 6 journalists and
23 prisoners appearing on the list of prisoners drawn up by human
rights defenders. It also welcomes the recent release of Mr Sahavat
Gumbatov and Mr Ramin Tagiyev by court decisions. It strongly regrets,
however, that none of the prisoners referred to in Resolution 1545 (2007) has been released and that the three journalists associated with
the most vocal opposition newspapers, Ganimat Zahidov, Sakit Zahidov
and Eynulla Fatullayev, remain in prison.
15. The Assembly can only but regret that the amnesty law adopted
by the Parliament of Azerbaijan, on 8 May 2007, which led to the
release of 9 000 persons convicted of petty crimes, did not include
any of the prisoners in respect of whom the Assembly has repeatedly
expressed concern.
16. In view of the above, the Assembly recalls its Resolution 1545 (2007) and urges the Azerbaijani authorities to implement a
number of measures without further delay.
17. As regards the preparation of the presidential election:
17.1. the Assembly takes note of the
adoption of the revised Electoral Code by the Parliament of Azerbaijan
but regrets that some of the recommendations made by the European
Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) were not
fully addressed. For the forthcoming elections to be free and fair,
the Central Electoral Commission should now take all measures to
ensure that:
17.1.1. the composition
of the Central Electoral Commission, and also of the territorial
and precinct electoral commissions, is balanced and not dominated
by pro-government forces;
17.1.2. independent candidates in the Central Electoral Commission
and territorial electoral commissions are, to the largest possible
extent, agreed upon by consensus;
17.1.3. the posts of Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and Secretary
of electoral commissions at all levels are fairly distributed;
17.1.4. efficient complaints and appeals procedures are guaranteed;
17.2. the Assembly emphasises that the rules of the electoral
campaign should be clear long before the beginning of the campaign
itself. In this regard, to date the President of Azerbaijan has
not yet signed the law on the revised Electoral Code and according
to the law currently in force the electoral campaign should have
started on 16 June, which is not the case. The ambiguity of this
situation is a serious subject of concern for the Assembly;
17.3. the Assembly welcomes the adoption on 30 May 2008 of the
amendments to the revised 1998 law on freedom of assembly by the
Parliament of Azerbaijan, in compliance with the recommendations of
the Venice Commission, and urges the authorities to take appropriate
measures to ensure that the prompt implementation of the relevant
legislation fully respects Article 11 of the European Convention on
Human Rights (hereafter “the Convention” – ETS No. 5), as interpreted
by the European Court of Human Rights (hereafter “the Court”);
17.4. a climate of confidence should be restored, which implies
that dialogue between the ruling majority and the opposition, both
inside and outside parliament, should be urgently established;
17.5. political parties and blocs should be given cost-free
broadcast time and print space in the statefunded media, under equal
conditions, as stipulated in the Electoral Code of Azerbaijan;
17.6. all relevant measures should be taken to prepare the ground
for a free and fair presidential campaign, as well as elections,
so that mistakes from the last ballot are not repeated;
17.7. a clear message should be sent, in time for the 2008 presidential
election and at the highest political level, that electoral fraud
will not be tolerated.
18. As regards the fight against corruption and money laundering,
the Assembly:
18.1. welcomes the
efforts made by the authorities to address the problem of corruption,
which at present continues to affect all levels of society and threatens
the economic growth as well as the social and political development
of the country. In particular, the Assembly welcomes the adoption
of a new national strategy “on increasing transparency and the fight
against corruption”, as well as of an action plan for its implementation
for the period 2007-11, prepared in close co-operation with the
Council of Europe;
18.2. urges the parliament to adopt the law on money laundering
and counter-financing of terrorism, the law on conflict of interest
and a law on responsibility of legal persons for corruption offences,
in line with Council of Europe experts’ recommendations;
18.3. urges the Azerbaijani authorities to implement without
further delay the recommendations made by the Group of States against
Corruption (GRECO) and the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation
of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism
(MONEYVAL).
19. As regards freedom of expression, the Azerbaijani authorities
should:
19.1. initiate the legal
reform aimed at decriminalising defamation and revise the relevant
civil law provisions to ensure respect for the principle of proportionality,
as recommended in Resolution
1545 (2007); in the meantime, a political moratorium should be reintroduced
so as to put an end to the use of defamation lawsuits as a means
of intimidating journalists;
19.2. guarantee the effective prosecution of perpetrators of
attacks against journalists;
19.3. implement the recommendations made by the Council of Europe
experts concerning the Law on Television and Radio Broadcasting
and the presidential decree approving the regulations of the National Television
and Radio Broadcasting Council, and amend the relevant legislation
so as to:
19.3.1. clarify the role
of the state broadcaster as compared to that of the public broadcaster;
19.3.2. guarantee the independence of the National Television
and Radio Broadcasting Council, including from a financial point
of view;
19.3.3. define the terms for the award of broadcasting licences
more clearly and put an end to state interference with broadcasting.
20. As regards freedom of association, the Assembly:
20.1. is particularly concerned by
the Khatai District Court’s decision of 14 May 2008 to revoke and annul
the registration of the Election Monitoring Centre (EMC), a well-known
and recognised non-partisan domestic election observation organisation,
following an appeal by the Ministry of Justice;
20.2. urges the Azerbaijani authorities to take all necessary
measures to guarantee freedom of association in both law and practice
and in compliance with Article 11 of the Convention, as interpreted by
the Court, and to execute the Court’s judgment in the case of Ismayilov v. Azerbaijan, finding
a violation of Article 11 of the Convention.
21. As regards the reform of the judicial system:
21.1. concrete measures should be
taken to put an end to the strong influence still exerted by the executive
over the judiciary;
21.2. the right to a fair trial should be guaranteed and measures
should be taken to ensure that the implementation of the relevant
legislation fully respects the requirements of Article 6 of the
Convention, as interpreted by the Court;
21.3. the Assembly welcomes the adoption of codes of conduct
for both judges and public prosecutors in accordance with the 2006
decree on the reform of the judiciary and in line with the Council
of Europe experts’ recommendations.
22. As regards the follow-up to the issue of alleged political
prisoners, the Assembly:
22.1. reiterates
its call on the Azerbaijani authorities to make use of every legal
remedy (amnesty, review of cases by higher-instance courts, conditional
release for health reasons, pardon) so as to settle this problem
once and for all;
22.2. calls upon the Azerbaijani authorities to consider the
release of Natiq Efendiyev, Rasim Alekperov, Ruslan Bashirli, Akif
Huseynov and Telman Ismayilov on humanitarian grounds;
22.3. condemns the lack of transparency and fairness in the
relevant investigations and court proceedings and demands the immediate
release of imprisoned opposition journalists Ganimat Zahidov, Sakit
Zahidov and Eynulla Fatullayev.
23. As regards conditions of detention, the Assembly urges the
Azerbaijani authorities to:
23.1. implement
the recommendations made by the Council of Europe’s Committee for
the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment (CPT) in its reports on the two ad hoc visits of January
2004 and May 2005;
23.2. authorise the publication of the above-mentioned reports
without further delay;
23.3. take the necessary measures to execute the Court’s judgment
in the case of Mammadov (Jalaloglu) v.
Azerbaijan, finding a violation of Articles 3 (prohibition
of torture) and 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the Convention.
24. As regards other outstanding issues:
24.1. the law on alternative civilian service should be adopted
without further delay, in line with Azerbaijan’s accession commitment;
24.2. the law on national minorities should be adopted and the
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ETS No. 148)
should be ratified, in line with Azerbaijan’s accession commitment.
25. As regards Azerbaijan’s commitment to the peaceful settlement
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Assembly:
25.1. considers that sustainable democratic
development will be extremely difficult in Azerbaijan as long as
the country’s territorial integrity has not been restored;
25.2. takes note of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution
“on the situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan”, adopted
on 14 March 2008, which expresses serious concern that the armed conflict
in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan continues
to endanger international peace and security, reaffirms Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity, expresses support for its internationally recognised
borders and demands the immediate withdrawal of Armenian forces
from the occupied territories;
25.3. welcomes the meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian
foreign ministers in Strasbourg, on 6 May 2008, on the sidelines
of the meeting of the Committee of Ministers, which they both subsequently qualified
as constructive talks. Both ministers reaffirmed their countries’
commitment to seeking a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. The Assembly strongly urges Azerbaijan and Armenia to
continue to seek a peaceful solution to the conflict in compliance
with the standards and principles of international law;
25.4. welcomes the Monitoring Committee’s initiative to organise
in Berlin, in November 2007, a hearing on “frozen conflicts” including
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In this respect, the Assembly reaffirms
the role it can play in helping foster a positive negotiating climate,
through dialogue at the parliamentary level.
26. The Assembly asks its Monitoring Committee to continue to
follow developments in Azerbaijan closely, especially with a view
to ensuring that the next presidential election of October 2008
will fully respect Council of Europe standards for free and fair
elections.