Jean-Louis Laurens, Director of the Council of Europe (CE) on Strategic Planning Department, stressed in a Friday meeting with Samad Seyidov, chairman of the permanent parliamentary commission on international relations, that he expected Azerbaijan’s parliamentary elections in 2005 to be held more democratically and fairly. (23 July 2004) 

Electoral code to be sophisticated


«These elections are very important from the viewpoint of fulfilling the country’s commitments made to the CE,» said Laurens, noting that it was necessary to improve the Electoral Code.
Laurens also underlined that the CE would present a final document on political prisoners in Azerbaijan to the country’s authorities.*


Political prisoner case 


Mr. Laurens went on saying in his news conference on Friday that the CE experts were considering the cases of 104 Azerbaijani prisoners. The CE official said that 55 people had not been considered as political prisoners, while 32 of 49 prisoners had been pardoned by a presidential decree. He noted that the cases of 15 prisoners were currently under consideration and it was impossible to determine whether Eldar Israfilov and Jansur Karimov are political prisoners.
Underlining that the CE has compiled a textbook about the history of South Caucasus countries, Laurens said that the book provides Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity in accordance with international legal norms.*