RUSSIA’S DEATH PENALTY
by Nargiz Asadova
Kommersant, Russia
June 29 2006
The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly in Strasbourg considered
the Resolution “Position of the Parliamentary Assembly as Regards
the Council of Europe Member and Observer States which Have Not
Abolished the Death Penalty.” Russia is the only member state that
has not legislatively abolished the death penalty and criticism of
that fact begins at the top of the document. “The death penalty has
been abolished in all Council of Europe member states, with just one
exception…” the document reads. “More than ten years after accession,
the Russian Federation retains the death penalty in its legislation,
although it does respect the moratorium on the executions it decided
in 1996… The Assembly… made repeated appeals to the Russian
authorities on the matter of the abolition of the death penalty,
urging them to ratify immediately Protocol No. 6 to the European
Convention on Human Rights. It points out that the deadline initially
set for honouring this commitment passed in 1999.” PACE passed similar
resolutions in 1999, 2002 and 2005. The difference is that now Russia
is the chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers, which is responsible
for the implementation of the assembly’s demands.
In addition to being the only member state not to ratify Protocol No.
6, on abolition of the death penalty in peacetime, Russia is one of
only three countries, along with Armenia and Azerbaijan, that have
not signed Protocol No. 13, abolishing the death penalty altogether,
although seven nations have yet to ratify it.
In spite of the importance of the topic, only 20 of the 315
representatives to the assembly were present at the session. That may
be due to the fact that the session was held at the end of the day on
which summer sales begin in France. Russian representative Konstantin
Kosachev took part in the session. He told assembly members that
“I do not intend to make excuses for Russia. I myself am a supporter
of the ratification of Protocol No. 6. But I want to remind you that
abolition of the death penalty is not so much Russia’s obligation to
the Council of Europe as our own choice. It is a norm of the Russian
Constitution that was passed in 1993.”
All of the Russian representatives in the assembly have expressed
their support for the abolition of the death penalty at some time,
as has Federation Council speaker Sergey Mironov, who was present at
the PACE session. Standing with PACE President Rene van der Linden at
a press conference after the session, Mironov said that “at present,
a majority could be reached in the State Duma and Federation Council
in a discussion of that issue. But that does not mean that the sixth
protocol will be ratified soon. The majority of the population of
Russia is in favor of preserving the death penalty for merciless
terrorist crimes, particularly those in Beslan.”
Russia is not the only country criticized in the resolution. It also
resolves to “include on its agenda by the end of 2006 the question
of the suspension of Japan’s and the United States’ observer status
if no progress on this question has been made by then” and recalls
that 1016 executions have taken place in the United States since
death penalty was restored in 1977 and eight executions in Japan
since 2001. Other countries are mentioned as well.
The resolution passed by a vote of 17 to 2.

WITHIN THE SUMMER SESSION OF PACE HELD ON JUNE 29 IN STRASBURG, DISCUSSIONS WERE HELD ON NK
Author: Z.Mugabiloglu
TREND, Azerbaijan
June 29 2006
Within the summer session of PACE held on June 29 in Strasburg,
discussions were held on Nagorno-Karabakh.
The event called “Stability Pact in South Caucasus” brought together
Azerbaijani and Armenian delegations in PACE, as well as European
parliamentarians.
The ways of solving Nagorno-Karabakh conflict were discussed. Yet
there is no statement as a result of the session.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA SPEAKER ACCUSES AZERBAIJAN OF ABUSING POSITION AT PACE
Today, Azerbaijan
June 29 2006
Armenia’s parliamentary speaker accused Azerbaijan of using the
rostrum of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to
insult Armenia, the parliament’s press department said Thursday.
Tigran Torosyan told PACE Secretary General Terry Davis in Strasbourg
Wednesday: “The PACE session in Strasbourg is highly important
for joint discussion of issues linked with the fulfillment of the
countries’ obligations, while Azerbaijan is using the PACE rostrum
to insult and slander Armenia.”
According to RIA Novosti, Torosyan said Azerbaijani delegates had
accused Armenia of starting forest fires in troubled Nagorno Karabakh,
a region in Azerbaijan with a largely ethnic Armenian population,
and occupied territories.
He said “Nagorno Karabakh” had asked the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe, the world’s largest regional security body,
two weeks ago to monitor the situation and prove the accusations false.
Torosyan also said that in this situation the Armenian delegation
could not abstain from reciprocal statements. He said false insults
and accusations were unworthy of the Council of Europe’s principles,
and proposed taking steps to resolve the situation.
URL:

RUSSIAN DEPUTY FM GRUSHKO TOUCHES ON NK CONFLICT AT PACE
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
June 29 2006
Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, chair of the Council of Europe
Committee of Ministers addressed the plenary meeting of the Council
of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) today.
APA’s Europe bureau reports Mr.Grushko responded to the questions asked
by parliamentarians. Azerbaijani parliamentarians Aydin Mirzazadeh,
Rafael Huseynov and Ganira Pashayeva addressed him some questions
regarding the Nagorno Garabagh conflict. Mr.Grushko tried to make
common answers to the questions and said Russia’s presidency of the
Committee of Ministers will have a positive impact on the resolution
of the conflict.
“The OSCE Minsk Group remains as main mediator regarding this issue.
First of all, Azerbaijan and Armenia should come to an agreement on
resolution. The Minsk Group is making all efforts to promote to find
a suitable compromise. The parties could not agree on mainly two or
three principles in the negotiations. We welcome the regular meetings
of the heads of state for the resolution of the conflict. Despite
lack of improvement in the negotiations, it is good that none of the
parties step back from the peaceful settlement process,” the deputy
foreign minister said.

NEW CO-RAPPORTEUR OF PACE FOR AZERBAIJAN TO VISIT BAKU IN SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER
Author: Z.Mugabiloglu
TREND, Azerbaijan
June 29 2006
British MP Tony Lloyd, new PACE co-rapporteur for Azerbaijan, is
visiting Baku in September-October 2006.
Mr Lloyd told Trend’s special correspondent in Strasburg the big work
is on his shoulders “Upon visiting Azerbaijan and familiarizing with
the situation on place, I will share my ideas and opinions”, he said,
adding there will be many meetings in the course of such visit.
“The top priority issues for me are human right protection and election
system reforming”, he said.
As to Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Mr Lloyd, avoiding the exact reply,
said in common that this problem settlement is very important for
South Caucasus.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FMS OF “GREAT EIGHT” URGED BAKU AND YEREVAN TO REACH AGREEMENT
Author: E.Huseynov
TREND, Azerbaijan
June 29 2006
The Foreign Ministers of “great eight” called for Azerbaijan and
Armenia to reach an agreement on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in 2006.
It was stated in the statement made as a result of the meeting held
in Moscow that “great eight” supports the efforts of co-chairs of
OSCE Minsk Group, Trend reports with reference to ITAR-TASS.
“It was mentioned in the document the necessity to come to an
agreement on the principles of peaceful solution of this conflict
within a short time”.
“We call for Azerbaijan and Armenia to use political power and reach
an agreement on this conflict this year and prepare their peoples
for the peace,” told in the document.

AZERI DELEGATION TO PACE HELD A NEWS CONFERENCE ON FACTS OF ARMENIAN VANDALISM
Author: J.Shahverdiyev
TREND, Azerbaijan
June 29 2006
Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe (PACE) held a news conference on 29 June on
the facts of fires, broken up by Armenians in the occupied territory
of Azerbaijan, Gultakin Hajiyeva, the deputy head of the Azerbaijani
delegation to the PACE, told Trend.
Journalists from different countries participated in the news
conference. “Azerbaijani delegates put forward impressive arguments
while responding journalists. It was a next step by the Azerbaijani
delegation under the PACE summer session, which unmasked the Armenian
vandalism,” she underlined.

BRYZA: ARMENIAN TROOP PULL-OUT FROM THE CONFLICT ZONE WOULD HELP REDUCE TENSION
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
June 29 2006
“I was not surprised my first interview in the post of co-chair caused
a stir.
Because we knew — the co-chairs knew — and my predecessor Steven
Mann, the co-chair before I assumed responsibility on the very day of
that interview, knew that what they had just announced at the OSCE
was significant and would make people think twice, and would spark,
as we like to put it, a robust debate in the region. I was simply
in the unenviable position of having been on this newest assignment
for an hour and I was the guy that got to explain the decision that
others had made before me,” Matthew Bryza, the new U.S. co-chair of
the Minsk Group stated in an interview with the RFE/Radio Liberty.
The RFE/RL told the APA that Matthew Bryza said he was not surprised
that a robust debate was sparked.
“What did surprise me though was that people spoke so quickly in
reacting to the interview without reading the publicly available
document that the co-chairs issued at the OSCE in Austria, which
laid out in much greater detail everything. My interview is small
generalization of this document,” the US co-chair said.
Mr. Bryza said the core principles that were over the course of two
years by the co-chairs and [Armenian President Robert] Kocharian and
[Azerbaijani President Ilham] Aliyev and their foreign ministers,
ultimately weren’t agreed to by the two presidents.
According to the co-chair, talk about recapturing Karabakh by force
or any use of force by any party is simply not helpful, “It is not
necessary because there is a viable framework on the table that just
requires a little bit more political courage on both sides to forge
a compromise.
The co-chairs have exerted all of the creativity and all the
negotiating energy that they could and they have gotten this framework
of core principles as honed as possible in their judgment, such that
the presidents, in their mind, need a little time to think things over
and decide whether or not they can accept or adjust this framework. But
what we are saying in the statement is that there is no more room
for diplomatic creativity to make this piece of metal shine a little
bit more brightly. It is honed and you have to decide whether you
want it or not, or the trade-offs that would have to be made are so
significant politically that it requires the head of state to make
the trade-off,” Bryza said.
The American co-chair thinks pulling of Armenian troops back from
the occupied territories will reduce tension.
“Would an Armenian troop pull-out reduce tension? Well, sure as hell
it would. That is why it is a core element of our core principles.
But the Armenians are not just going to pull back the troops because
we say, “Golly, gee, that would help reduce tension.” They will do
it if they get something for it and that is precisely what these core
principles are all about. Therefore, the heads of state need to make
tough decisions.
Matthew Bryza also said the latest statement touched on what steps
to be taken for demilitarization.
“I would just point you to the statement…. It is very clear, and lays
out in a lot of detail what exactly the overall set of trade-offs would
be. Demilitarization is the phrase used for troop pull-back, and that,
as the framework indicates, should be, or could be, accompanied by some
sort of process that would lead to a population vote, or a referendum
vote on the future status of Karabakh. I think that is, in the Armenian
mindset, extremely important, so that is what the Azerbaijani side
would have to offer the Armenians, along with the other things within
this statement to which I refer you. On the Azerbaijani side, I think
that they are willing to consider the possibility of some type of a
vote on the status of Karabakh if many other elements of this overall
package are present. What gets difficult is how you correlate the
withdrawal, or the redeployment, of Armenian troops with the timing
of a vote on the future status of Karabakh,” Matthew Bryza said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERBAIJANI MPS HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE ON FIRES IN THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES IN STRASBOURG
Today, Azerbaijan
June 29 2006
The members of the Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation to PACE held
a press conference today with regard to recent massive fires in the
occupied territories of Azerbaijan set by Armenians.
As APA reports, the press conference chaired by parliamentarian
Gultakin Hajiyeva also brought together parliamentarians Aydin
Mirzazadeh, Ganira Pashayeva, Sabir Hajiyev and Fazail Ibrahimli. In
the press conference, media representatives were informed in detail
about Armenians torching the occupied Azerbaijani territories.
The photos of the territories on fire taken by satellite were
distributed to journalists. An Armenian journalist tried to explain
these fires due to natural reasons, in particular hot weather but
parliamentarian Sabir Hajiyev called this argument groundless.
“It is possible natural reasons to cause fires in everywhere and in
Azerbaijan as well but in this case there are attempts to prevent the
fire. Armenians refusing to take any action about it make us think they
deliberately caused these fires,” the Azerbaijani parliamentarian said.
URL:

G8 PRESSES ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN FOR NAGORNY KARABAKH SETTLEMENT
RIA Novosti, Russia
June 29 2006
MOSCOW, June 29 (RIA Novosti) – Foreign ministers from the Group of
Eight industrialized nations called on Armenia and Azerbaijan Thursday
to outline principles for resolving a long-running territorial dispute
this year.
The conflict between the two former Soviet republics over Nagorny
Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan with a largely Armenian population,
first erupted in 1988, when the region claimed independence from
Azerbaijan to join Armenia.
A statement by the G8 ministers following talks Thursday in Moscow
stressed the need to draft the main principles to solve the conflict
peacefully so that agreement could be reached in 2006, and urged
Azerbaijan and Armenia to display political will and reach an agreement
on the issue this year, while preparing their nations for peace and
not for war.
Over 30,000 people were reported dead on both sides between 1988
and 1994, and over 100 others died after a ceasefire was concluded
in 1994, leaving Nagorno-Karabakh in Armenian hands, but tensions
between Azerbaijan and Armenia have persisted.
Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe,
the world’s largest regional security body, carried out monitoring
of a section of the border between the countries that has been at the
center of recent accusations from both sides of ceasefire violations.