Azerbaijani Ombudsman issues statement over violation of Moldovan counterpart`s rights in Armenia
Baku, July 8 (AZERTAC). Azerbaijani Commissioner for Human Rights, Ombudsman, Elmira Suleymanova has issued a statement over the violation of Moldovan Parliamentary Advocate (Ombudsman) Aurelia Grigoriu’s rights in Armenia.
The statement reads: “As it is known, these days the parliamentary advocate (Ombudsman) of the Republic of Moldova Aurelia Grigoriu in her speech at the International Conference held in Armenian parliament said that Armenia occupied 20% of Azerbaijan’s territory and committed an act of genocide against Azerbaijanis in Khojaly. After that she faced threats, accusations and insult for this truth she expressed. The rights of A. Grigoriu were seriously violated and her travel back to Moldova was forbidden.
The case when a person who is engaged in protection of human rights, particularly an official representative of a foreign state is facing threads and violation of rights for sounding the historic facts and truth acknowledged by the world community and international organizations, that in a parliament in a civilized country is commonly accepted as a free thought square, once again proved that Armenia is not a legal and democratic state.
The Republic of Armenia as the member-state of the United Nations, also Council of Europe demonstrates disrespectful response towards the resolutions and other documents, adopted by these organizations, as well as to the country commitments taken as a party to number of the international agreements.
Pursuant to the article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as the fundamental document in the area of human rights, everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state and to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country. Moreover, according to the article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, that Armenia is a party to, everyone lawfully within the territory of any state shall, within that territory, have the right to liberty of movement and shall be free to leave any country. One of the substantial requirements of the Pact is that no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country.
As it is obvious, limitation of the right to liberty of movement of A. Grigoriu by the relevant agencies of Armenia, as well as creation of obstacles for her return to own country is a grave violation of the provisions of the aforementioned international legal acts.
At the same time, it is well-known that regardless of place everyone has the right to freedom of expression without fear of being prosecuted and this is one of the most important human rights. According to the article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, to which Armenia is also a party to, everyone has the right to freedom of expression. Similar provisions are also enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Interruptions of the speech of A. Grigoriu by the official representatives of Armenia, obvious and clear threats, harassment against her and the pressure she was exposed to is a grave violation of the European Convention on Human Rights and other international documents.
Having this accident namely these days, when Armenia acts as the chairing country of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, clearly demonstrates the failure of the state of Armenia to follow the globally accepted principles of the international law on respect to the human rights and freedoms and questions the eligibility of this country to chair the Committee of Ministers, one of the main bodies of the Council of Europe, primarily aimed at human rights protection.
As the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Republic of Azerbaijan I strongly condemn these serious violations of the rights of my Moldovian colleague in Armenia and call on all of the international organizations as well as my foreign colleagues not to remain indifferent to these unacceptable events in Armenia against the Ombudsman of Moldova and to express their concern in this regard.”
The Statement is addressed to the UN Secretary General, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, OSCE, the Council of Europe, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, the International and European Ombudsman Institutes, the Asian Ombudsman Association, Ombudsmen of different countries, the embassies of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the foreign countries and the embassies of the foreign countries in the Republic of Azerbaijan.
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