“I consider this decision of the Council of Europe Ministers unprecedented, that is to start a judicial process against Azerbaijan”, stated Naira Zohrabyan, member of the Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) at the interview with Aravot.am.
Let us remind that the Council of Ministers of the Council of Europe has launched a legal process against Azerbaijan, as the latter continues not to comply with the 2014 decision of the European Court of Human Rights in regarding the release of oppositionist Ilgar Mammadov.
Naira Zohrabyan emphasized that this committee of ministers had never made such a decision before.
Let us note that the head of the Armenian delegation to PACE Arpine Hovhannisyan described this position of the Committee of Ministers as “tough.”. She has issued a statement in which she states: “The Committee of Ministers had never made such a decision before on any country, I must say that the intention to apply this unprecedented influence against Azerbaijan for the first time was voiced this fall. Azerbaijan was warned that if it did not implement the ECHR decision by November 29, the latter would start an investigation on it, but even after numerous warnings, the Azerbaijani authorities preferred to make false accusations instead of implementing the ECHR decision”.
Mrs. Zohrabyan reminded that Aliyev’s response to the warning of the Committee of Ministers was that all this was organized by Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland: “The Azeri dictator declared that Thorbjørn Jagland created an artificial crisis between Azerbaijan and the Council of Europe. Aliyev has recently threatened that if the crisis continues between the CE and Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan will leave the Council of Europe”.
Mrs. Zohrabyan informed that in the near future the trial of the case against Azerbaijan will start in the Grand Chamber of the ECHR.
In response to the question whether this process will lead to leaving Azerbaijan out of the Council of Europe, Mrs. Zohrabyan said: “Azerbaijan is the only country that does not fulfill the ECHR decision. It is hard to answer. It all depends on how long Aliyev will remain cynical and state that Azerbaijan has the right to interpret the ECHR decisions in its own way. When cuckoo is rotten, it starts to constantly change the nest, the same is with Azerbaijan who does not realize that it smells of totalitarianism. Any development is possible here. Anything is possible. It is an unprecedented phenomenon not to fulfill the ECHR decision, which is a violation of Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights”.
Naira Zohrabyan also assured that this issue will be touched upon during the PACE January session to be held in Strasbourg on January 22-26.
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
