Strasbourg, 29.11.2012 – The co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of Azerbaijan, Pedro Agramunt (Spain, EPP/CD) and Joseph Debono Grech (Malta, SOC), visited Baku from 26 to 28 November 2012 in order to assess the progress made by the country towards fulfilling its obligations and commitments to the Council of Europe.

During their meetings with the authorities, the co-rapporteurs expressed concern at the recently adopted amendments to the Criminal Code and the Administrative Code which have increased the penalties for organisers of and participants in “unauthorized” demonstrations. Furthermore, the co-rapporteurs raised their concerns with regard to a number of human rights defenders, activists and journalists detained on criminal charges following trials whose conformity with human rights standards had been called into question by some NGOs.

The co-rapporteurs will present the final version of their report and a draft resolution for consideration by the Monitoring Committee on 12 December 2012. If adopted, both texts will be published and debated in the Parliamentary Assembly during the 2013 January session. (more...)

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