Baku, May 24, AZERTAC
Head of the Azerbaijani delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Samad Seyidov has provided documentary evidence of the occupation by Armenia of Azerbaijani territories as the Assembly`s Monitoring Committee heard a report from Stefan Schennach (Austria), PACE co-rapporteur for the monitoring of Azerbaijan, who paid a three-day fact-finding visit to the country.
Seyidov circulated brochures and documents at the meeting, providing evidence of the Armenian armed units` shelling Azerbaijani residential areas and killing civilians on the line of contact.
In an interview with AZERTAC, Seyidov said European MPs, who usually were critical of Azerbaijan, this time welcomed positive processes taking place in Azerbaijan. “They hailed the results of President Ilham Aliyev`s policy.”
He informed the Monitoring Committee members of a bill declaring amnesty on the occasion of May 28th Republic Day, which was passed by the parliament of Azerbaijan. “Submitted by president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, MP Mehriban Aliyeva, the Amnesty Act will affect 10,000 people, with 3,500 convicts being released from detention facilities. The European MPs welcomed the bill,” he said.
Seyidov said the Committee also agreed to send co-rapporteurs to Azerbaijan for another mission in June. “The co-rapporteurs will monitor the elections at constituency No. 90, where the results of parliamentary elections were annulled. They will also hold meetings with state officials. One of the co-rapporteurs will be chair of the Monitoring Committee,” he said.
In his report, Monitoring Committee co-rapporteur Schennach expressed “strong” concern at the recent escalation of the situation along the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh and the occupied territories and the reports of civilian casualties and deaths.
AzerTag