AZEX criticizes OSCE/ODIHR`s insufficiently critical preliminary  assessment of pre-election situation in Azerbaijan

ArmInfo.The Azerbaijani Exiled Civic Coalition (AZEX), represented by the Institute for Human Rights (IHR) and the Institute for Reporters Freedom and Safety (IRFS), condemns the Azerbaijani authorities for expelling from  Azerbaijan a short-term observer of the OSCE/ODIHR mission, Swiss  parliamentarian Nik Gugger, and considers this step to be integral  part of a large-scale campaign of denigration and demonization of  international organizations that demand that Azerbaijan comply with  its obligations in the field of ensuring democracy and respecting  human rights in the country.

The joint statement by IHR and IRFS received by ArmInfo reads.

"The IHR and IRFS are shocked by the ongoing politically motivated  persecution of representatives of civil society in Azerbaijan,  especially in the run-up to the elections. As a result: the famous  trade union activist Elvin Mustafayev was sentenced to 3 years in  prison; blogger Rashad Ramazanov was sentenced to 5 years and 4  months in prison; social activist and blogger Arzu Sayadoglu was  kidnapped by the State Security Service and brought as a defendant in  a criminal case. The intimidation organized by the authorities  through controlled media is of particular concern as non-governmental  civil organizations specializing in monitoring elections are  presented as illegal entities whose activities are directed against  the state interests of Azerbaijan. Thus, a campaign of harassment has  been launched against Anar Mammedli, winner of the Vaclav Havel Prize  awarded to him by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of  Europe, in which he is accused of receiving illegal funding in the  run-up to the elections with the aim of deliberately discrediting the  presidential elections. AZEX is concerned about the insufficiently  critical preliminary assessment of the pre-election situation and  sees the OSCE/ODIHR interim report as a compromise option that would  not irritate the authorities. AZEX is also concerned about the lack  of a proper reaction from the OSCE/ODIHR observation mission to the  actual deportation from the country of a Swiss parliamentarian who  was accredited by the Central Election Commission of Azerbaijan as a  short- term ODIHR observer. Despite the fact that Nik Gugger had  accreditation and was nominated by the Swiss Ministry of Foreign  Affairs, he was subjected to demonstrative deportation under the  pretext of membership in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of  Europe. "The above actions are the actual political arbitrariness of  the Azerbaijani authorities, they challenge the Parliamentary  Assembly of the Council of Europe in response to the just suspension  of the powers of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, starting on  January 24, 2024, for systematic violations of human rights and the  country's disregard towards its obligations to the Council of  Europe,"  said co-chairman of AZEX Emin Huseynov. "Despite the fact  that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is deprived  of the legal right to observe elections in a member country of the  Council of Europe, such as Azerbaijan, PACE should publicly condemn  the actions of the authorities regarding the deportation of Swiss  parliamentarian Nik Gugger from the country, as well as the  repression launched by the authorities against civil society,"  concluded Huseynov. AZEX also calls on ODIHR Director Matteo Mecacci,  OSCE Secretary General Helga Schmid, Secretary General of the OSCE  Parliamentary Assembly Roberto Montella and President of the OSCE  Parliamentary Assembly Pia Kauma to speak out in support of the Swiss  parliamentarian illegally expelled from the country and not to give  the Azerbaijani authorities the opportunity to use the OSCE as a  political tool for whitewashing the obviously undemocratic  presidential elections in Azerbaijan," they concluded.