Azerbaijan refuses to issue visa to PACE Rapporteur on Political Prisoners

The Azerbaijani authorities have confirmed their refusal to grant an entrance visa to Bundestag Deputy Kristof Strasser, who wanted to visit Baku as the PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) Rapporteur on Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan, said Elman Abdullaev, the first secretary of the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Azerbaijan.

According to his story, the visa rejection was caused by the "absence of universal criteria" of the notion of a "political prisoner". "In the absence of such criteria the visit makes no sense," said Abdullaev.

The official Baku objects to the functioning of the very institute of the PACE Rapporteur on Political Prisoners as applied only to Azerbaijan, believing this approach to be discriminatory.

Earlier, the refusal to grant a visa to Mr Strasser was reported by the German Governmental Ombudsman Marcus Lening, who condemned the decision of the official Baku. Also, Mr Lening stated, referring to reports of the monitoring missions of the OSCE, the non-compliance of the elections in Azerbaijan with democratic standards.

In his opinion, it is a violation of Azerbaijan's commitments as a member of the Council of Europe (CoE).

Kristof Strasser, who was appointed to the position of the PACE Rapporteur on Political Prisoners back in March 2009, had been prohibited earlier to visit Azerbaijan in this capacity.

"At the forthcoming autumn session of the PACE Azerbaijani MPs will raise the issue of the expediency of the institute of rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan," said Samed Seyidov, the head of the Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation to the PACE.

According to his story, Azerbaijan demands to put an end to "double standards in this issue." In his opinion, "certain people exploit non-existent problems to put pressure on Azerbaijan."

Mr Strasser himself said in his interview to the Azerbaijani Service of Radio Liberty that there are clear criteria for the notion of "political prisoner", defined by independent experts of the CoE's Secretary General back at the time of Azerbaijan's and Armenia's accession to the Council of Europe in 2001.

According to Strasser, these criteria were recognized not only by the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, but also by the PACE as such and the CoE's Committee of Ministers. "Yes, and Azerbaijan had also recognized these criteria," reminded Mr Strasser.