Chairman of the Milli Majlis received a delegation of Ago Group led by Pietro Arcole Ago on February 3.

During the meeting, the Speaker of the Parliament reminded that Azerbaijan had fulfilled the greater part of its commitments to the Council of Europe, and following the organization’s recommendations had joined over 40 conventions. According to him, the country has made important steps in the sphere of human rights: the Law “On Constitutional Court” ensuring the citizens’ right to apply directly to the Constitutional Court had been passed; due to the 33 Decrees on Pardon signed by Azerbaijan’s national leader Heydar Aliyev within 1995-2003, over 3 thousand convicts had been set free; the Milli Majlis had passed 7 amnesty acts further applied to 80. In addition, the COE report on the list of convicts drawn up by Azerbaijan NGOs has been thoroughly studied, as a result, the greater part of the persons included in the list have been set free by President Ilham Aliyev’s December 29, 2003 Decree on Pardon.

Mr. Alasgarov also let the delegation members know that a new law on public television and radio had been passed, and that a new draft law on protection of ethnic minorities’ rights is now under elaboration.

He said in addition that “Azerbaijan was the first in the South Caucasus to adopt the Election Code meeting all democratic values, and that it was the document that 2003 presidential elections in Azerbaijan was held in accordance with. “In these elections, our people elected Ilham Aliyev, but some opposition forces did not want to put up with the elections results and committed mass disorders in Baku. More than 400 detainees have been released, cases of some of them are brought into court, and those of the others are now under investigation,” the speaker said.

Mr. Pietro Arcole Ago thanked the speaker for the detailed report and appreciated the work dine in Azerbaijan in the sphere of human rights and freedoms protection. He said: “We realize that some of the commitments have not been fulfilled for objective reasons. That is why Azerbaijan has been given extra-time.” Mr. Ago added as well that the cases of other people detained during the October 15-16 events should be brought into court, as “otherwise, their names may also be included in the list of political prisoners.”

Having expressed his disagreement with the fact of placing Azerbaijan on a par with Armenia in certain aspects, speaker Murtuz Alasgarov reminded that Azerbaijan had been also first country in the South Caucasus to cancel the death penalty, while Armenia has taken this step just recently. “A terrorist act killing 7 is committed in Armenian Parliament, Armenia is recognized as an aggressor and terror-supporting state in the international documents, but the Western countries so far does not abandon the double standards,” the Chairman of the Milli Majlis said.

During the meeting, the parties have also exchanged views on other issues of mutual interests.