CE reports regular human rights violations in Azerbaijan

Today, the Council of Europe (CE) Committee for the Prevention of Torture has announced that the Azerbaijani government's consent to publish the reports on the practice of ill-treatment of detainees in the country testifies to the authorities' willingness to improve the situation with violations of human rights. Azerbaijani rights defenders have refused to share the optimism of their European counterparts.

Today, the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) has published reports on six visits to Azerbaijan from 2004 to 2017.

The materials of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture have been published with the consent of the Azerbaijani government, emphasizes the report published on the CPT's website.

"The CPT's overall impression of the situation in Azerbaijan is that torture and other forms of physical ill-treatment by the police, other law enforcement agencies and the army, corruption in the whole law enforcement system and impunity remain systemic, widespread and endemic," the CPT states in its report.

The CPT has nonetheless welcomed the decision of the Azerbaijani authorities to publish the CPT's reports and described that fact as a clear indication of the authorities' resolve to enhance their dialogue with the CPT and to address effectively the serious problems the Committee has highlighted.

Ogtai Gyulyalyev, the chair of the Public Alliance "Azerbaijan without Political Prisoners", has agreed with CPT's conclusions, but noted that the Council of Europe and other Western organizations should not confine themselves to stating the facts in the reports.

"It is not enough to mention the facts. Sanctions are to be imposed on human rights violators to eradicate the vicious practice. Now they welcome the government's consent to publish the reports. However, I believe it is too early to rejoice. The willingness to make the reports public does not yet mean there is a will to prohibit torture," Ogtai Gyulyalyev said.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 18, 2018 at 02:45 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.