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.