By FAIK MEDZHID
Caucasian Knot
Human rights defenders applaud the resumption of the activities of PACE Rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan. However, they believe that Spanish MP Pedro Agramunt, who has been appointed to the position of PACE Rapporteur, is not the best candidate. The human rights defenders declare his loyalty to the authorities of Azerbaijan. In the current situation, Pedro Agramunt is unlikely to mitigate the acute problem of political prisoners. This opinion was expressed by the human rights defenders questioned by the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.
Let us remind you that on June 25, Pedro Agramunt was appointed the PACE Rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan. His candidacy was supported by members of the Azerbaijani delegation to the PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe).
The resumption of the activities of the PACE Rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan is important in terms of the seriousness of the problem in the country. This was stated by Arzu Abdullaeva, co-Chair of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly (HCA), the head of the National Committee of the International HCA.
“However, Pedro Agramunt is not the right persons to fulfil such a task. This man is unable to cope with the responsibilities of the Rapporteur on common issues. So, why do you think he will be able to perform something else? We cannot expect serious results following his activities,” Arzu Abdullaeva believes.
According to Leyla Yunus, Director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD), the very personality contributes to rise of doubts concerning his preparation of an objective report.
“Pedro Agramunt’s loyalty towards the Azerbaijani authorities, together with his activities as a whole, raises a huge number of questions. The earlier reports compiled by Pedro Agramunt and Maltese MP Joseph Gresh, another Rapporteur of the PACE Monitoring Committee, were, to put it mildly, smoothed and non-objective,” Leyla Yunus has noted.
See earlier reports:
PACE Human Rights Committee to consider issue of political prisoners in Azerbaijan, Leyla Yunus calls to put a number of Azerbaijani officials into analogue of “Magnitsky List”, Azerbaijani rights defender Leyla Yunus sets up Centre for Resisting Repressions.