Friday, January 27 2023 17:19

ArmInfo.The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release all Armenian prisoners of war and fully comply  with the temporary measures indicated in the decision of the ECtHR  regarding the Lachin Corridor.  According to the Armenian Embassy to  the Council of Europe, the corresponding call is contained in the  PACE resolution on the course of the monitoring procedure.

"The progress of the Assembly's monitoring procedure  (January-December 2022) Parliamentary Assembly 1. The Parliamentary  Assembly acknowledges the work carried out by the Committee on the  Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the  Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee) in fulfilling its mandate as  defined in Resolution 1115 (1997) (modified) on the "Setting up of an  Assembly Committee on the honouring of obligations and commitments by  member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee)". In  particular, it welcomes the committee's work in accompanying the 11  countries under a full monitoring procedure (Albania, Armenia,  Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Hungary, the Republic of  Moldova, Poland, Serbia, Turkiye and Ukraine), the three countries  engaged in a post-monitoring dialogue (Bulgaria, Montenegro and  Northern Macedonia) in their efforts to comply fully with the  obligations and commitments they entered into upon accession to the  Council of Europe, as well as the countries subject to periodic  monitoring of their membership obligations, which was completed in  2022 in respect of Hungary, Malta and Romania, and is currently  carried out for France, the Netherlands and San Marino. 2. The  Assembly notes the committee's continued attention to the  developments concerning relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The  Assembly takes note of the most recent urgent notice of the European  Court of Human Rights sent to the Committee of Ministers of the  Council of Europe calling for the monitoring of Azerbaijan's  implementation of its decision of 21 December 2022 regarding the  Lachin Corridor, and calls for the immediate and full implementation  of the interim measures decided by the Court. The Assembly is also  monitoring the situation around the Armenian prisoners of war and  civilian captives who are still detained in Azerbaijan. The Assembly  calls upon Azerbaijan to immediately release all detainees. 6.2. with  respect to Armenia: referring to Resolution 2427 (2022), the Assembly  welcomes the marked progress in the democratic development of Armenia  and calls on the authorities to complete the reform of the electoral  framework, to continue the reform of the judiciary and to strengthen  media freedom. The Assembly resolves to continue to closely follow  developments with regard to institutional balances and the  establishment of a democratic culture; 6.3. with respect to  Azerbaijan: the Assembly welcomes the authorities` declared  commitment to political dialogue but regrets that in general, the  situation in Azerbaijan has not improved and that a number of  outstanding concerns with regard to the rule of law, pluralist  democracy and human rights remain unaddressed. They include serious  concerns with regard to the independence of the judiciary, media  freedom and freedom of expression, freedom of association and  political freedom, as well as allegations of torture and  ill-treatment by law enforcement officials and unsatisfactory  detention conditions," the document reads.