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Stefan Schennach: Samad Seyidov has to be replaced in PACE June session

23 May 2018 17:16 (UTC +04:00)

Samad Seyidov will be replaced in his post as co-rapporteur for Serbia in PACE’s summer session in June, PACE Monitoring Committee Co-Rapporteur for Azerbaijan Stefan Schennach told APA.

He noted that Samad Seyidov has to be replaced with another co-rapporteur because he has been deprived of all of his rights for two years.

Schennach also noted that their planned visit to Azerbaijan for June has been put off.

“Another co-rapporteur for Azerbaijan Cezar Florin Preda has been relieved of his duties as well. I’m the only one remaining. During the June session, appointment to replace Preda will also be discussed. This is why our visit has been postponed. The visit will take place as soon as a new co-rapporteur is appointed,” he said.

The PACE Committee on Rules of Procedure found that four individual members named in the report of the Independent Investigation Body looking into allegations of corruption within the Assembly have “seriously breached” its Code of Conduct, and ruled that all four should be temporarily deprived of a number of rights in the Assembly, said a message posted on PACE’s website on May 16.

The committee decided that the sanctions should apply to Pedro Agramunt (Spain, EPP/CD) for a period of ten years, and Cezar Florin Preda (Romania, EPP/CD), Samad Seyidov (Azerbaijan, EC) and Jordi Xuclà (Spain, ALDE) for a period of two years.

All four, while remaining members of the Assembly with the right to speak, will be banned during these periods from acting as rapporteurs or election observers, and cannot be chairs or vice-chairs of any committees or sub-committees, or stand for election as president of the Assembly.

They will be unable to represent the Assembly or its committees at any third-party events.

At a press conference on May 16, Samad Seyidov, head of the Azerbaijani delegation to the PACE rejected all the accusations, stressing that the sanction aims to detach Azerbaijan from the Assembly.

The PACE decision should be assessed as another double standard attitude towards Azerbaijan, Seyidov said, calling the decision ‘biased and unfounded’.

“Those who face sanctions in the PACE are the ones who fully support the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan in respect of the Armenian occupation. The main issue here is the national interests of Azerbaijan. We will not allow this interference. We will organize Azerbaijan’s activity in PACE in a higher format. This sanction will have a negative impact on PACE's reputation, not on Azerbaijan’s,” he added.