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Members of the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights Elkhan Suleymanov, Rafael Huseynov and Fazil Mustafa addressed their colleagues at the Committee. The letter reads: “The Azadliq newspaper published an interview with the rapporteur of the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Mr. Christoph Strässer on October 28-29, 2011 titled “Strässer threatened authorities with sanctions”. The interview contained serious accusations against not only the government of Azerbaijan, but also against the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights and German Bundestag.
Mr. Strässer said he didn’t agree with the Committee’s decision on changing the title of report on political prisoners, supported by majority of votes, and added that the decision was made in his absence. He explained his position: “I expressed my position that I don’t agree with this compromise. This is not so pleasant result. This compromise was adopted in my absence. Therefore I express my protest and disagreement”. Mr. Strässer said that he “didn’t agree with the PACE processes”. He accused the PACE members of forming groups and said “there were attempts to form some groups concerning these issues and it is not so much pleasant”.
Mr. Strässer said that despite Azerbaijan was dropped from the report the issue of political prisoners in Azerbaijan would be again addressed. The rapporteur said he couldn’t visit Azerbaijan so far, but he had the list of 100 political prisoners in Azerbaijan. He interpreted the decision of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights in his own way and claimed about the concrete number of political prisoners in the country without any investigation. It shows that he had preconceived and illusory position in very beginning. In his interview, Mr. Strässer threatened the Azerbaijani authorities and said that “the report wouldn’t be so positive for Azerbaijan”. Today we face with the fact that Mr. Strässer doesn’t intend to be a neutral arbitrator and to establish neutral fact-finding mission.
Moreover, Christoph Strässer says in his interview that the lobbying of Azerbaijani government and its close forces in Western Europe impedes his activity. He also claims that the text of the resolution prepared by the members of the Bundestag was plagiarized. It should be noted that Mr. Strässer not only accuses Bundestag members of plagiarism, but also tells a lie. On March 24, 2011, Mr. Strässer appealed to all socialist members of Bundestag asking to support and sign the petition against Azerbaijan concerning the problem of political prisoners. He himself did not sign the petition saying in his letter:
“Though I am co-rapporteur of PACE, I can not sign this proposal because of neutrality.”
Mr. Strässer knows very well that he violated the rules and norms of neutrality of a PACE rapporteur. So, to the contrary of Mr. Strässer’s interview to the Azadlig newspaper, the above-mentioned document is not a resolution prepared by the members of Bundestag, the political initiative was put forward by Mr. Strässer, not by the other parliamentarians. By this, he deliberately violated the neutrality.
The Azadlig newspaper writes in the October 28-29 editions “European parliamentarian (Strässer) discloses games of the Azerbaijani government”. In his interview to the newspaper Mr. Strässer accuses former parliamentarians from various European countries, including Berlin of corruption. He claims “Those who lobby for Azerbaijan make attempts to give bribes to the members of the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights”. Later, realizing that he can speak only on his behalf, he confesses:
“As for me, the Azerbaijani side has never offered me bribes.”
It is clear that the scandalous, open statement made without any evidence is the slanderous accusation against the Azerbaijani government and casts shadow on the objectivity of the members of the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. Mr. Strässer’s claims give the impression that everyone, who objectively assesses Azerbaijan’s position, including the members of the PACE Committee, took bribes from the Azerbaijani side. Therefore, we state that Mr. Strässer’s accusations are groundless and quite inadmissible, such accusations are biased and deliberate steps aiming to undermine the international image of Azerbaijan and the honor and business interests of the country’s leadership.
In the end of the interview Mr. Strässer warned the Azerbaijani government once again, threatened Azerbaijan and said that “the developed report will not be in favor of Azerbaijan”. In general, the facts proving Strasser’s preconceived position and baseless charges against Azerbaijan have a wider scope.
For the objectiveness we have to note that according to the Strässer’s website he had never given an interview to the Azadlig newspaper. It was noted that Strässer participated in the conference dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Azerbaijan’s state independence and delivered a speech on mandate given him by PACE on political prisoners. It was said that his speech was published by the Azadlig newspaper as an interview without his permission.
We state that we don’t believe that after baseless and preconceived charges against Azerbaijan, Mr. Strässer, who expressed his personal anti-Azerbaijan position on behalf of the Council of Europe, will demonstrate unbiased position without visiting the country and conducting any fact-finding mission or discussing it with the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. We don’t believe that the cooperation with him will be possible. We consider that it would be right decision for Mr. Strässer to withdraw from the rapporteur’s mandate after the publication of such interview.
From the other side, taking into account that Mr. Strässer had never given an interview to the Azadlig newspaper we consider the denial by the rapporteur of PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights in such manner as insufficient. We consider that in order to clarify the issue legally, Mr. Strässer must raise a claim against the Azadlig newspaper and prove that he has never given an interview to this newspaper, as well as hasn’t been an author of baseless and nonobjective claims published by the newspaper”.
