German ambassador responds to Azerbaijani human rights activist’s report

German Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Azerbaijan Herbert Quelle has responded to accusations voiced during a press-conference held by Eynulla Fatullayev on January 29, the embassy told Trend today.
Regret was expressed that Fatullayev has not responded to the ambassador’s request to discuss the conference which was held in Germany.
“It is regrettable that my invitation from January 16 to discuss your conference on Germany
remains unanswered until today. Instead you chose to raise a number of accusations
against the German Embassy and the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press conference on January 29. As these accusations have been made publicly and as they are untrue you do not leave me any other option than refuting them publicly as well,” the message said.
The embassy said that Amnesty International does not receive institutional support from the German Federal government.
“At no time did the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs influence Amnesty International, the Black Sea Trust or the Open Society Institute to terminate their cooperation with you or instigated invited speakers to not appear at the conference,” the message said.
It was also stressed that neither has the German Embassy in Baku exerted any influence on participants, speakers and alleged sponsors of your conference.
“When it was clear that your claim of sponsorship by the Black Sea Trust was a lie, this information was, of course, provided to anybody inquiring about the conference,” the message said. “When the Embassy learnt that Germany was the focus of the conference we only asked you for additional information beforehand like the concept and the list of speakers. As we cooperated trustfully in the past, I do think that such request was legitimate.
Fatullayev previously said that while conducting monitoring, he was disappointed by the aggressive attitude towards demonstrators in Germany. Amnesty İnternational also opposed his findings. He also stressed that the German Foreign Ministry does not advise foreign funds to cooperate with him. Germany hampered the presentation of his report in Brussels.