STOPPING AZERBAIJAN MEMBERSHIP IN CE MAY BE RAISED IN APRIL

If official Baku does not release all political prisoners before April, the question of stopping Azerbaijan’s membership in the Council of Europe will be raised. Head of the Armenian delegation to CE Parliamentary Assembly Hovhannes Hovhannisian stated it in a conversation with journalists today. He noted that this condition was stipulated in the Resolution adopted at PACE session January 24. Let us remind that due to some countries’ efforts, particularly those of Russia, Azerbaijan managed to avoid stricter wordings of the conditions laid down. Hovhannisian supposes that such a position of the members of PACE Russian delegation can be explained by the fact that the discussion concurred with Heydar Aliyev’s state visit to Moscow. Just this circumstance, in his opinion, made the Russian deputies support Azerbaijan position.