The Council of Europe should not forget on his commitments

“The arrests of peaceful protesters immediately after as the PACE rejected the resolution on politically motivated arrests, shows how serious the situation is,” – said John Dalusen, Director of Amnesty International office on Europe and Central Asia.

“PACE co-rapporteurs are responsible for monitoring of the obligations of Azerbaijan to the Council of Europe, Pedro Agramunt and Joseph Debono Grech, and in spite of opposed the resolution on the political prisoners, proposed by the German parliamentarian Christoph Strasser, they are obliged to do further monitoring.

By taking on this responsibility, they must now intervene to abolish prison sentences and fines for participation in Saturday’s action. Demonstration on Saturday in Baku was a reaction to the violent dispersal of protests a few days earlier in Ismailli (200 km north-west of Baku). Police there fired tear gas and rubber bullets against the crowd, demanding the resignation of the local authority. Several cars and buildings were set on fire during the riots. Hundreds of people were detained.

Amnesty International expresses its concern at reports that several people were arrested in connection with the riots in Ismailli been tortured and ill-treated. We demand an immediate, impartial and effective investigation of these complaints”, – said Dalusen.

“In addition, we call on the Azerbaijani authorities to cancel all sentences to those who were fined and arrested in Baku due to participation in a peaceful protest on Saturday”, – said Dalusen.

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