Samad Seyidov: "Exaggeration of political prisoners' issue causes tension between Azerbaijan and Council of Europe"

He noted that Azerbaijan was a developing country in the field of democracy and existence of problems on human rights should be accepted normally.

“The main fact is that the country leadership, Parliament and NGOs take proper measures to eliminate these problems. This issue should not be politicized and it is unacceptable to cause danger to the reputation of Azerbaijan,” he said.

Seyidov touched upon appointment of special rapporteur on political prisoner by PACE and noted that Azerbaijan was approached double standards in this issue.

“Unfortunately, several PACE representatives make statements on existence of political prisoners in Azerbaijan. 200 people have been arrested for participation in the protest actions in neighboring country, but they are not accepted as political prisoners. Those, who say that there are such problems in Azerbaijan, should see ongoing developments in other countries. Otherwise, they should confess that the issues they raised serve for political purposes”, he said.

Seyidov added that there was no political prisoner in Azerbaijan.

“Nobody rejects existence of human problems in Azerbaijan. It is not right to use this issue against Azerbaijan. If the Council of Europe appoints special rapporteur on political prisoner, who will work with this person? This step will cause tension and it will be an example of double standards against Azerbaijan”, he said.

Seyidov stressed that the Council of Europe was very respectable organization and it would not take such step.

/APA/