The Monitoring Committee of PACE has approved report by Pedro Agramunt (Spain, EPP/CD) and Tadeusz Iwinski (Poland, SOC) on "The functioning of democratic institutions in Azerbaijan" and has made recommendations to the authorities of Azerbaijan calling it to reinforce democratic "checks and balances" in the system, ensure a fairer electoral framework, further boost judicial independence and end the crackdown on human rights in the country, infoaz.org reports.
The draft resolution, which the Assembly will discuss at its upcoming session on June 22-26, also recognizes that "human rights defenders, civil society activists and journalists are behind bars" and calls to stop the prosecution of those, who criticize the government, contact.az reports.