CONFLICTS IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH AND ABKHAZIA THREATEN PROCESS OF DEMOCRATIZATION OF SOUTH CAUCASIAN REGION, CE SECRETARY GENERAL STATED

The situation in Caucasus continues to be one of the key political issues on the Council of Europe agenda. The CE Secretary General Walter Schwimmer has stated that speaking at the meeting of the standing council of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Unsettled issues in Nagorno-Karabakh and Abkhazia hamper the joint European efforts aiming at rendering assistance to the South Caucasian states and threaten the process of democratization of the region, the CE Secretary General stated. The most of the complex problems in the human rights sphere are also results of the freezing of these conflicts, he added. Speaking about process of fulfillment of Yerevan and Baku’s obligations to the Council of Europe, Walter Schwimmer noted, the issues with the death penalty in Armenia and with the new legal cases of the political prisoners in Azerbaijan are not settled yet.