Tony Lloyd: "Azerbaijan should conform to Council of Europe standards"

Because we insist on Azerbaijan's conforming with the Council of Europe standards, PACE Monitoring Committee co-rapporteur on Azerbaijan Tony Lloyd told APA.

Lloyd told the Council of Europe member countries have not determined their own standards.

"The member countries should accept to all the principles, values and conventions of organization. As to honoring of obligations by Azerbaijan, of course, there is progress in this field, necessary reforms are being carried out. But we are disappointed with some momentums, such as present condition in courts, corruption cases and political prisoner problem. The solution of political prisoner problem is very important. It would not be right to say political prisoner. The mater is if a court decision cannot be justified at all, it is impossible to justify detention of prisoners in jail," he said.

The co-rapporteur also said there are problems on freedom of expression in Azerbaijan.

"Is it possible to say the situation on media is stable in Azerbaijan? We can not say anything exactly about it. There should be free and independent media. I think pressures by international organizations and Council of Europe are not enough for the solution. The Council of Europe has not yet finished its monitoring. It is impossible to end the monitoring in one day. The Monitoring Committee will continue to prepare reports in future," Lloyd said.