The co-rapporteurs visited the office of the Turan Information Agency and met with Mehman Aliyev, according to the statement.
“We welcome the news that the tax sanctions on the news agency have in the meantime been lifted, and we urge the authorities to lift all charges against Mehman Aliyev and end all restrictive measures against the Turan Information Agency,” the co-rapporteurs said. “We would like to thank the Azerbaijani authorities for the frank discussions and the continued dialogue.”
The statement said: “In Baku, they met with the President of the Republic, the Head of his Administration and the Deputy Minister of Justice. In parliament, meetings were held with the Speaker of Parliament and the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE. Mr Schennach and Mr Preda also met representatives of civil society, journalists, lawyers and families of persons in detention. The co-rapporteurs were able to meet with Aziz Orujov in pre-trial detention, and meetings were held with Fuad Gahramanli in Prison 10 and Mehman Huseynov in Prison 14. They also went to Gobustan prison.”
A debate on “The functioning of democratic institutions in Azerbaijan” will be held in Strasbourg on Wednesday 11 October 2017, during the PACE plenary session, on the basis of the report adopted on 7 September by the Assembly’s Monitoring Committee.
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