In a rare move, the Council of Europe’s anti-torture committee issued a public statement slamming Azerbaijan for what it called Baku’s refusal to cooperate with the committee.
The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), in its statement, said that it had made genuine attempts to engage Azerbaijan, to no avail.
According to an article of the Convention, “If the Party fails to co-operate or refuses to improve the situation in the light of the Committee’s recommendations, the Committee may decide, after the Party has had an opportunity to make known its views, by a majority of two-thirds of its members to make a public statement on the matter.”
“The reason behind this exceptional decision to make a public statement is the outright refusal of the Azerbaijani authorities to cooperate with the CPT. The Committee made genuine attempts to engage in a constructive dialogue with the Azerbaijani authorities to address matters that lie at the heart of the CPT’s raison d’être,” said the statement.
“The CPT has detailed in its visit reports that it continues to receive allegations of severe acts of ill-treatment and even of torture by police officers. Yet, no action has been taken by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan to implement the Committee’s long-standing recommendations to end such practices,” the statement explained.
“Further, the Committee received no responses to the letters from its President to promote dialogue through holding high-level talks in Baku or even following the notification of a visit to the Azerbaijani authorities. This represents a fundamental and unprecedented breach of the Convention,” the CPT emphasized.
“Given the seriousness of the issues at stake, relating to ill-treatment and even torture by law enforcement officials of detained persons, the CPT has also decided to publish the report on the 2022 ad hoc visit to Azerbaijan as an annex to the public statement.”
The CPT expressed hope that Baku’s lack of cooperation will not lead “to a permanent rupture in relations with the Azerbaijani authorities.”
“It is especially unfortunate that this decision has been taken in the present situation of relations between Azerbaijan and the Council of Europe created following the biased decision by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe not to ratify the credentials of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE in January 2024,” said the Azerbaijani foreign ministry, referring to an earlier decision to essentially expel Azerbaijan from the European body.
“We reject the criticisms in the public statement, which are leveled at some state institutions, holding them responsible rather than engaging in constructive cooperation,” Baku said.
“Azerbaijan is making great progress not only in the protection of persons deprived of their liberty but also in bringing relevant practices up to commonly accepted standards,” official Baku claimed.
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