PACE PRESIDENT CONCERNED BY THE SERIOUS DETERIORATION IN RELATIONS BETWEEN ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN FOLLOWING THE DECISION TO PARDON RAMIL SAFAROV

States News Service
September 5, 2012 Wednesday

The following information was released by the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe (PACE):

I join the international condemnation of the glorification of the
terrible crime which Mr Safarov has committed, and for which he
has been condemned by a court in a Council of Europe member state,
Jean-Claude Mignon, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe (PACE), said today. His liberation is unacceptable,
and I am extremely disappointed by the abusive use of a Council of
Europe legal instrument in this affair.

This scandalous liberation is having very negative consequences
on the already-strained relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan,
and also risks destabilising the situation in the region. I call on
the Azeri authorities to reconsider their position, in line with the
standards and the ethos of the Council of Europe, Mr Mignon concluded.