France, Strasburg, April 28 / Trend , A.Maharramli /
As part of the spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), a paper proposed by the member of Azerbaijani delegation Rafael Huseynov - on the resolution entitled "The problem of political prisoners in Europe and the need for a special investigation of the political prisoners issue in Armenia", Huseynov briefed the media.
"Formerly the Council of Europe established an expert group consisting of Trehselya, Alkynes and Arabadzheiva. This group has put forward five principles that define the term of "political prisoner" in Europe. Research on these principles was held only in Azerbaijan. We have repeatedly raised the issue that these principles should be introduced in all European countries," said Azerbaijani MP.
Huseynov said that the NGOs' recognition of people arrested after the various elections in several European countries, especially in countries that have recently become independent, as political prisoners did not receive an appropriate evaluation of the EU. "Therefore, preparing a separate document, we roused this issue. This paper is based on proposals for various resolutions and recommendations prepared by the Council of Europe earlier. Specifically, the document reflected the requirement to raise the issue in other European countries, including Armenia.
Huseynova stated that the members of PACE are interested in the document and signed it. The document has already been submitted to the Secretariat of PACE. "I think that in the near future document will be discussed by the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, as well Subcommittee on Human Rights. It is expected that this document will be reviewed by the Bureau of PACE as well," said Huseynov.
In addition, based on this document, it is expected that soon investigation of the issue of political prisoners will be raised in several Council of Europe member states and rapporteurs will be appointed on this issue.
The paper contains serious concerns over the arrests or prosecutions for political reasons in some Council of Europe member states. The thesis of "The existence of even one political prisoner in the Council of Europe countries" is the principled position of PACE, and there is a serious need to take concrete steps so that this entirely fair approach was not just a statement.
In the PACE was repeatedly raised the issue of systematic and massive violations of human rights in Armenia, which joined the Council of Europe in 2001, and serious papers were prepared. During the discussion on the obligations and commitments of Armenia before the Council of Europe, the existence of these problems has always been pointed out, several times proposals were made to impose sanctions against the country, but unfortunately, neither Armenia has carried out real work to normalize the situation, nor PACE has taken effective measures against Armenia.
"In 2008, after presidential elections in Armenia, dozens of people were killed, many people were arrested. And today, there are hundreds of political prisoners in Armenia and the Armenian government, ignoring calls by NGOs, the Council of Europe and some other international organizations that defend human rights in the country, continues its illegal activities,"- says the paper.
The five principles on understanding of "political prisoner", determined by the experts of the Council of Europe and adopted by the Council of Europe, can be applied with regards to numerous citizens of Armenian arrested by state for political reasons.
In the document PACE urges to fully investigate the issue of political prisoners in Armenia and to appoint a special rapporteur to prepare a full report.
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