The European Parliament has adopted another contrived, unfounded and frivolous document. Head of the Presidential Administration's Department for Work with Law-Enforcement Agencies Fuad Alasgarov has shared his views on the issue with AzerTAc.

- On June 13 the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the case of Ilgar Mammadov. How would you comment on this resolution?

The European Parliament adopted another contrived, unfounded, frivolous document, casting doubt on its reputation. I think we are dealing with a sort of "spring-summer exacerbation" of anti-Azerbaijani sentiments of certain groups in this organization. Previous slanderous resolution against our country was adopted at the end of May last year on the eve of the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku.
There is no doubt that the current resolution is also a result of efforts of the certain groups in the European Parliament. Just look at the list of the deputies who attended the discussions of the draft resolution. It is exactly the same list of deputies who adopted previous resolutions on Azerbaijan.

- The resolution was adopted in the framework of the so-called "urgent debate". What, in your opinion, caused such urgency?

Ilgar Mammadov was arrested at the beginning of February, this year. Given the fact that the European Parliament’s sessions take place every month, it took more than four months for the European parliamentarians to feel the "urgency" of the matter. As many as 32 ​​deputies - notably all people who attended the meeting considered his case important and urgent. It is less than 5 percent of the total number of 754 members of the European Parliament. For comparison, about 600 members of the EP participated in discussions on other issues.
The process of discussion of the so-called "urgent issues" relating to human rights in the European Parliament perplexes us. Discussion of the resolution, or rather crumpled reading of prepared text, took less than an hour. Let me remind you that we are talking about the "urgent and important" issue. The country, against which the resolution is adopted, has absolutely no opportunity to voice its opinion. Under such circumstances we don’t have a chance to speak about the objective and comprehensive approach of the European parliamentarians. Such an imitation of a flurry activity could be completed only by the adoption of another fiction, just like a present resolution.
The urgency was caused by only one thing - the deputies took the time to adopt a resolution, knowing that the complaint of Ilgar Mammadov is being considered by the European Court of Human Rights. This resolution is nothing than an attempt to put pressure on the European Court of Justice.
A number of deputies, who spoke in favor of the resolution, have shown a complete ignorance of the subject. So, one of the deputies in her speech said indignantly that Ilgar Mammadov was arrested for "participating in a peaceful protest, despite the fact that he was not even present at this event". As you can see, she did not even study the draft resolution, which in no way speaks about peaceful protests.
Ilgar Mammadov was charged with organizing mass disorder and violence against members of the government. During the "peaceful protest” in Ismailly region at the end of January, participants burned the building and several cars.
However, the supporters of the resolution are not just ill-informed about the riots. The resolution has intentionally misrepresented a number of facts. Thus, the document notes that Ilgar Mammadov is the leader of an opposition party. However, the movement he leads is not a political party, it even does not have any serious weight in the political system of Azerbaijan.
Further, the authors of the resolution note that Ilgar Mammadov is a candidate for the presidency. This is a blatant lie. The procedure for registration of candidates, provided by the electoral law, has not yet begun, so Ilgar Mammadov does not have an official candidate status. His intention to participate in the elections is not an "indulgence" in case of committing any unlawful acts or does not exempt him from the necessity to observe the law.

- The resolution states that Ilgar Mammadov is not only the leader of REAL, but also the director of the School of Political Studies of the Council of Europe, which operates in Baku. What can you say of the status and activities of the School?

Obviously, this organization is mentioned in the resolution in order to increase the weight of the document. Although the status of the School of Political Studies is uncertain, the Council of Europe and the Government of Azerbaijan don’t have any agreements on its activities. This organization has not passed state registration in accordance with the law. It does not submit any reports, including financial ones, the sources of its funding are unknown. Therefore it's just an attempt to hide behind the name of the well-known international organization.
In general, this is just yet another evidence of the biased and customized nature of this document. Amid other items, the documents states that Ilgar Mammadov has been detained illegally. This statement was made by deputies having a minimum of information on the issue, which, moreover, is largely a one-sided and distorted. However, neither criminal investigation nor consideration of a complaint to the European Court of Justice has yet been completed, so the conclusions of the authors of the document, at least, are premature and unfounded.
In general, despite the fact that the resolution of the European Parliament is dedicated to the "case of Ilgar Mammadov", most of the text has no relation to the specified case at all. Significant is the fact that only one of the 17 points of the document is dedicated to Ilgar Mammadov. The rest was added, apparently, "for the volume".

- What will be the consequences of the adoption of this resolution by the European Parliament?

- What are the consequences of an empty, non-binding document, which was developed against a country which is not a member of the European Union? This is another exercise in demagoguery, which occurred after the majority of Members of the European Parliament went home, and it can only harm the credibility of the organization. And of course, it will not contribute to strengthening the cooperation between Azerbaijan and the European Union.

AzerTAc