Azernews.Az

Azerbaijani Parliament Speaker Ogtay Asadov has criticized the Council of Europe parliamentary assembly, saying it was baseless to scrutinize the issue of "political prisoners" in any country given the absence of PACE’s relevant legal documents and fully outlined criteria.

The statement came during Asadov’s meeting with PACE co-rapporteurs Joseph Debono Grech and Pedro Agramunt in Baku on Thursday.

"The "political prisoners" problem in countries like Russia, Ukraine and Belarus is being studied under PACE’s monitoring procedure. This being said, including this issue in the mandate of the legal affairs and human rights committee when it comes to Azerbaijan indicates that this organization is pursuing a different policy toward our country," Asadov said.

He said it would be fair to go back to monitoring this issue.

"We cannot accept a double standard approach to countries and attempts to use a non-existent problem as [a tool of] pressure," Asadov said, according to the Azerbaijani parliament’s press service.

PACE co-rapporteurs have paid a three-day visit to Azerbaijan, which aimed to monitor Azerbaijan’s implementation of its CoE commitments and the conditions provided for democratic and civil society institutions. Grech and Agramunt held meetings in parliament, Prosecutor-General’s Office, Ministry of Justice, political parties, and public organizations, as well as met with Azerbaijani refugees displaced during the 1990s war with Armenia.