Yesterday, 11 February, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Special Co-rapporteurs on Azerbaijan Andreas Herkel and Joseph Debono Grech held a press conference regarding the results of their visit to Azerbaijan.
The Co-rapporteurs said that during the meeting with the head of the country Ilham Aliyev, they discussed the arrest of youth bloggers – Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade, restrictive amendments and changes proposed to legislation, restrictions against opposition representatives to receive coverage on TV and radios and problems related to the execution of court decisions.
“The only issue the government officials agreed with was the problem regarding the execution of court decisions,” said Herkel who added that they discussed the issue of imprisoned journalists Azadlig Newspaper Editor-in-chief Ganimat Zahid and Gundelik Azerbaijan and Realniy Azerbaijan Newspapers’ Editor-in-chief Eynulla Fatullayev during the meetings. “As it was with youth bloggers’ case, the new case against Eynulla Fatullayev is questionable. Sincerely, I am concerned about E.Fatullayev’s life. I hope that my fears will be unfounded,” noted A.Herkel.
Jozeph Debano Grech did not want to make revelations regarding his first visit to Azerbaijan and said that he will analyze the information and include in the report of the PACE that will be presented by June of this year.
“The only issue the government officials agreed with was the problem regarding the execution of court decisions,” said Herkel who added that they discussed the issue of imprisoned journalists Azadlig Newspaper Editor-in-chief Ganimat Zahid and Gundelik Azerbaijan and Realniy Azerbaijan Newspapers’ Editor-in-chief Eynulla Fatullayev during the meetings. “As it was with youth bloggers’ case, the new case against Eynulla Fatullayev is questionable. Sincerely, I am concerned about E.Fatullayev’s life. I hope that my fears will be unfounded,” noted A.Herkel.
Jozeph Debano Grech did not want to make revelations regarding his first visit to Azerbaijan and said that he will analyze the information and include in the report of the PACE that will be presented by June of this year.