It is impossible to achieve democracy in a country, where there are so many violations in the sphere of human rights and freedoms. British parliamentarian Hemkog made this statement at the PACE current autumn session in the course of the discussion of the report on the monitoring held in Azerbaijan. As reported by “Arminfo” agency referring to Azeri mass media, in his opinion, the infringement of rights, which have taken place in Azerbaijan, is inadmissible in any European country. “If Azerbaijan was not a member of the Council of Europe, none of the European figures would get in touch with the Azeri regime, as association with such a government would be compromising for them,” – Hemkog said. At the same time he made clear that the dialogue with Baku taking place at present did not at all mean that Europe shut its eyes to all those violations. “It is only an attempt of dialogue aiming at bringing it home to the Azeri leadership that it cannot continue the same way any more. If the situation in Baku does not change and an end is not put to violations of democratic norms there, the Council of Europe patience will wear out,” – the British parliamentarian stated. Other speakers noted that much was done in Azerbaijan formally, in particular, laws were passed, conventions were signed, but no one carried them out. The Baku authorities deceived the Council of Europe feigning that they followed the way of democracy, but in the reality authoritarianism continued strengthening there. Deputy George Klerfite addressed harsh criticism regarding the record of political prisoners in Azerbaijan. In his words, human rights problems in the country cannot be explained by the presence of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and refugees.
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