Baku responds to British minister’s statement
Azerbaijan`s Foreign Ministry stated that no one in Azerbaijan was persecuted for political views.
The ministry made such a statement in response to the statement of British Minister for Europe David Lidington, AzerTag state news agency reported.
The minister's attempt to influence on the Azerbaijani judicial instance with his irresponsible proposals is an indication of how the British government he represents treats the supremacy of law, the ministry stated.
The ministry further noted that in Azerbaijan, a country where the supremacy of law is fully provided, any political activity does not release from responsibility.
"Ignoring the real problems that Europe faces currently the minister for Europe dwells on the person whose crime has been judicially proved what is estimated as a pretext to pressure Azerbaijan and is certainly doomed to failure. The statement of the minister, who turns a blind eye to the hardships of one million of Azerbaijanis who became refugees and IDPs as a result of the Armenian aggression, and tries to show himself as a public advocate for human rights, is nothing but political hypocrisy. Moreover, it is even impossible to remember when Mr. Lidington touched upon this painful problem of the Azerbaijani people for the last time," the statement reads.
The ministry called on the UK authorities to refrain from irrelevant interference in the internal affairs of Azerbaijan and spend their time and resources to improve the overall human rights situation in their country.
"It would be rather useful if the minister accepts international organizations' criticism over the violation of human rights in the Great Britain and make his contribution to resolve these problems in his country. We have to remind to the British minister that by manipulating with the democratic values his government has always been criticized for absence of conditions for activity of free courts, torture and inhuman treatment, not ensuring independence and transparency in the legislative bodies, for mass persecution of citizens' internet activity by the special services and overhearing their phone talks, violation of the freedom of expression, privacy, slave-owning, racial discrimination, violation of human rights under the pretext of immigration legislature and other factors related to restriction of human rights," the statement reads.