Azernews.Az

Co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stressed a high level of cooperation with Azerbaijan`s authorities and parliamentary delegation to PACE following their visit to the country in January-February, which confirms the government`s openness and political will for such cooperation, a Presidential Administration official has said, regarding their report on Azerbaijan as ``balanced``.

Fuad Alasgarov told local media that the PACE Monitoring Committee`s meeting, held within the PACE spring session on April 23-24, discussed the report on Azerbaijan`s fulfilling its obligations before the Council of Europe. The report is expected to be approved at the next meeting of the committee.

Alasgarov said that in their report, the co-rapporteurs stressed a number of achievements related to the development of democratic institutions in Azerbaijan. For example, they positively assessed the adoption of the national program on improvement of human rights and freedoms protection, approved by a presidential decree in late December 2011.

Alasgarov also said the co-rapporteurs` report says the National Action Program envisages adoption of a law on defending the rights of persons held in detention; measures on investigating violations of the rights of inmates; and relevant training for law enforcement officers and judges.

The Presidential Administration official said the National Action Program is a conceptual and comprehensive document which is part of a series of measures undertaken for human rights protection in Azerbaijan. The program envisages both improving the legislative framework and specific measures aimed at ensuring more efficient protection of the rights of certain groups of people.

According to Alasgarov, the co-rapporteurs expressed confidence that the cases of alleged political prisoners included in the lists of non-governmental organizations should be reviewed as part of the monitoring procedure based on political dialogue. The co-rapporteurs noted that NGOs have not reached a consensus with respect to various lists of prisoners compiled by them, and that the lack of clear criteria or an internationally accepted definition for these individuals also prevents reaching agreement on this issue, he said.

``Azerbaijan has consistently adhered to a position for many years that it is necessary to work out clear criteria to define the term `political prisoners` before preparing a report on any country. This criteria would be applicable to all CE member-countries, rather than one country. We think that any other approach is unacceptable because it would mean the existence of double standards in the Council of Europe`s activity.

``This position is shared by many PACE members, experts in international law and representatives of local and international non-governmental organizations. PACE rapporteur Christoph Strasser`s position, who seeks to prepare a report on Azerbaijan, is unreasonable and raises doubt of his impartiality with respect to our country given the lack of an internationally accepted definition of the term `political prisoners`,`` Alasgarov said.

He said that in the report, the co-rapporteurs welcomed holding two opposition rallies in Baku on March 17 and April 8, emphasizing that the rallies had been agreed with executive authorities and proceeded without serious incidents.

Alasgarov also noted that the PACE report says that at present, more than 4,700 media outlets, including 40 daily and over 200 weekly and monthly newspapers and 50 news agencies, a large number of national, regional and cable TV channels, and more than 30 Internet service providers operate in Azerbaijan without any pressure from the authorities.

The rapporteurs also touched upon the incident related to a recent online video clip allegedly featuring journalist Khadija Ismayilova [being engaged in sexual activities],`` Alasgarov said.

``They stressed that the authorities also condemned the incident and that the Prosecutor-General Office filed a criminal case upon the journalist`s plea.``

Summarizing the report, Alasgarov said the co-rapporteurs prepared a ``balanced document`` that reflects the dynamics of the development of democratic institutions in Azerbaijan.

``We expect this attitude from the Council of Europe and all other international organizations,`` he added.