Eldar Namazov: "It is more important that Helsinki commission hearings are held objectively and effectively"

Chairman of the public forum "For Azerbaijan" Eldar Namazov released a statement regarding the announcement of Spokesman for the Helsinki commission of the US congress Lale Mamaux.

The statement says:

"APA news agency has recently spread information of its Washington bureau with reference to the official of the Helsinki commission press service which says that the upcoming hearings in the said commission on situation with human rights and democratization in Azerbaijan will be held not by Eldar Namazov's recommendation and that the possibility of such hearings had been discussed long before my visit to the United States and the Azerbaijan's embassy to Washington had been informed about it.

It seems that this information is a reaction to my interview to various mass medias of Azerbaijan, where I said that during my recent visit to the United States I sent a written appeal to the Congress and Helsinki commission with a request to organize such hearings.

In this connection, I consider it necessary to state the following:

- I have really sent a written appeal about conduction of hearings on the situation in Azerbaijan and discussed it in the Congress and the Helsinki commission during the visit to the United States. In order to leave no place for insinuations, I am ready to attach to this statement a copy of my appeal to the Congress of July 11 of 2008, in which I requested to hold hearings on Azerbaijan and to attach special attention to the need for unconditional release of arrested journalists and political prisoners, provision of the right for freedom of assembly, creation of equal conditions for all candidates for president and reformation of the Electoral Code for removing state monopoly of the election commission.

- The very fact of my appeal on talks on this issue does not mean that the decision to conduct the hearings was passed by my recommendations a week later. This time coincidence is a pure accident. The Helsinki commission is an influential state organization, whose decisions can not be influenced by either the government or opposition of other countries. Therefore, the announcement of the Helsinki Commission representative that such hearings had been planned before my visit to the United States is real.

- I do not consider it necessary to clarify who was the first to say it. It is more important that Helnki commission hearings are held objectively and be effective and reflect the real situation in the country. The US officials have recently made numerous public statements that issues of democracy and human rights are equal for them to cooperation in the sphere of security and energy.

We do hope that these hearings will be open and they will improve the situation with human rights in Azerbaijan..."

/Day.Az/