Watchdog

BAKU -- European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes of the Netherlands was barred from visiting a penitentiary hospital in Baku, despite President Ilham Aliyev's permission to do so.

Kroes told journalists in Baku that she met with Azerbaijan's president on November 6 and he agreed she could visit the hospital to observe the conditions for inmates there.

Kroes said that when she arrived at the prison hospital, officials would not allow her into the building.

She said that in her country, "if a president says something, it is always done, as in any democratic country."

A spokesman for Azerbaijan’s Penitentiary Service, Mehman Sadiqov, told RFE/RL that Kroes’ visit to the penitentiary hospital did not take place because of "protocol issues."

MINSK -- The wives of two prominent Belarusian dissidents have met with European Parliament members to remind them of the plight of political prisoners in Belarus.

Maryna Adamovich, the wife of jailed ex-presidential candidate Mikalay Statkevich, told RFE/RL the meetings were held on November 7 in Brussels.

Natallya Pinchuk, the wife of prominent Belarusian rights defender Ales Byalyatski, also attended.

Byalyatski has been in prison since August 2011 and Statkevich has been held since December 2010.

The two women held talks with European Parliament President Martin Schulz, Polish member of the European Parliament Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, and European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fuele.

Both Statkevich and Byalyatski say the cases against them are part of a politically motivated crackdown against opposition figures by Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka.