CoE secretary general urges Azerbaijani president to guarantee human rights observance in relation to opposition activist Mammadov
BRUSSELS. April 29 (Interfax) - Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland has deplored an Azerbaijani court ruling on opposition activist Ilgar Mammadov.
"The news from Azerbaijan today that Ilgar Mammadov, the head of the Council of Europe School of Political Studies in Baku, remains in prison following the decision of the Sheki Court of Appeal is deeply disturbing," Jagland said in a statement shared with Interfax on Friday.
Jagland called on President Ilham Alyiev, as guarantor of the Constitution, to ensure that Azerbaijan honors its commitments under the European Convention on Human Rights.
"Azerbaijan's courts have once again disrespected the country's legal obligation to execute the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights. Ilgar Mammadov has now been in prison for three years despite the Strasbourg Court's judgment that his prosecution was politically motivated and was aimed to punish him for having criticized the Government," Jagland said.
"Depriving a person of his or her liberty on the basis of a flawed judgment is an attack on the human rights system we have established in Europe," he said.
