Watchdog

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's speech at a session of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) in Strasbourg has been met by protests.

Azerbaijani activists living in Europe came to the PACE parliamentary session on June 24 wearing T-shirts with pictures of political prisoners in Azerbaijan and had their mouths covered with black tape.

They protested Aliyev's statement at the session that "all fundamental freedoms are respected in Azerbaijan."

Several Reporters Without Borders activists held a similar protest in front of PACE headquarters.

Aliyev stated at the session that reforms in Azerbaijan "allow Azerbaijani citizens to practice any political activities" and called on EU officials to "avoid double standards."

On June 23, Human Rights Watch called on the Council of Europe and PACE to urge Aliyev to end his country’s persecution of government critics and journalists.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Council of Europe and its Parliamentary Assembly to urge Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to end his country’s persecution of government critics.

In a statement on June 23, HRW's Europe and Central Asia director, Hugh Williamson, called it "sheer irony" that Azerbaijan is presiding over the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, "whose standards it so flagrantly violates."

The committee is the council's decision-making body. Baku took over as chairman for six months on May 14.

Also on June 23, more than 100 former inmates in Azerbaijan who considered themselves political prisoners called on the Parliamentary Assembly to increase its efforts to release political prisoners still remaining in Azerbaijani jails.

Aliyev, who has repeatedly denied the existence of political prosecutions in Azerbaijan, is scheduled to address the Parliamentary Assembly on June 24 in Strasbourg.