European Parliament slams Azerbaijan over Human Rights violations

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution condemning Azerbaijan for its continuous human rights violations and lack of democracy. The resolution asks the European Council to consider targeted sanctions and visa bans against Azeri politicians, judges and officials involved in political persecutions. It also asks the European Union authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into allegations of corruption involving President Aliyev and his family.

“Armenpress” spoke to MEP Michèle Rivasi shortly after the resolution was adopted. She is satisfied with the resolution and is confident it will send a strong message to Baku. ‘To tell them that Mr Aliyev should releas e all political prisoners sends a strong message to this dictatorship’ she said. ‘Nobody can enjoy impunity over human rights violations. It is not because you have a lot of oil money that you can buy silence on fundamental matters such as human rights’.

The resolution states that negotiations towards a Strategic Partnership Agreement with Azerbaijan should be suspended as long as Baku makes no progress on human rights. ‘This will have an impact on the current negotiations for a Strategic Partnership Agreement because Europe is not only about economics, it is also about values’ argued Mrs Rivasi. ‘It should be a ‘more for more’ situation. Azerbaijan needs to accept the values that are upheld in Europe.’

During the debate on the resolution MEP Marietje Schaake referred to cases of Azeri journalists and human right activists who have been handed lengthy prison sentences after trials deemed unfair by many international or ganizations. ‘Human rights abuses have systematically increased in Azerbaijan with excessive sentences for journalists such as Khadija Ismayilova and human rights defenders Leyla Yunus and her husband’ she said.

‘There are many more political prisoners. In fact, civil society, political opposition figures, human right defenders and journalists face intimidation, violence and repression.’ MEP Jordi Sebastia, who last week visited Nagorno-Karabakh, discussed the repeated cease-fire violations by the Azeri army. ‘The regime of Mr Aliyev does not recognize fundamental rights and in addition he wants to destabilize the situation in neighbouring countries. There are recurring attacks on the border with Armenia’ he explained. ‘There has been no progress on Nagorno-Karabakh and there has been no no help at all for the democratic countries in the Caucasus.‘ Mr Sebastia also referred to a reportage aired on French national television a bout Azerbaijan´s ´caviar diplomacy´.

The documentary showed how Baku tries to influence European politicians with luxurious trips, expensive presents and funding for restoration projects. ‘We saw on French television that there are issues regarding corruption, corrupt politicians and the impact it has on the European Union. Nevertheless the EU seems to regard Azerbaijan as a partner. How is this possible? How can they benefit from any partnership given that they don't share our principles and are actually trying to demolish them?’ The European Parliament will not send a delegation to Azerbaijan to monitor its elections in November because it considers that ‘under the present conditions this will be futile and will only serve to legitimize a deeply flawed electoral environment.’ Three previous resolutions have asked the European Council to consider sanctions against Azerbaijan. The question remains whether sanctions will implement ed this time around.