HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS FROM GERMANY, RUSSIA AND GEORGIA ARE DISSATISFIED WITH PROPAGANDA DEMARCHE OF AZERBAIJAN

PanARMENIAN.Net - It is noteworthy that this propaganda act was undertaken by the Azeri special services the day when the members of the International Working Group arrived in Stepanakert where they met with the NKR Foreign Minister and other authorities. Earlier Albert Voskanyan has several times visited Baku as the representative of the commission on search of war prisoners, participated in the meetings with official persons, and nobody was against. This was noted by almost all the newspapers of Baku. Co-chairmen of the International Working Group Bernhard Klazen, Svetlana Gannushkina and Paata Zakareishvili, who arrived in Baku to express their protest, condemned the attacks against their colleague.

The co-chairmen of the group got acquainted with the materials presented by the Azerbaijani special services as if testifying Voskanyan's severe attitude towards the imprisoned Azeris. (The matter concerns the period between 1992-1994 when Voskanyan was the Deputy Head of the NKR State Committee on issues of war prisoners, missing people and hostages). The experts, studying the materials, have concluded that the accusations were groundless. They noted that all the testimonies of the tortures are based on the stories of third persons and can not be considered a basis for conclusions about involvement of Voskanyan in illegal actions.

''Giving an employment to Albert Voskanyan, the International Working Group was being led by the 5-years experience of personal contacts with him, as well as by the readiness of the National Security Ministry of Azerbaijan to work with him. The Ministry particularly noted that the conditions of imprisoned Azeri soldiers were satisfying under Voskanyan,'' the statement of the co-chairmen reads. He has twice been in Baku and worked with the state committee on imprisoned and hostages of Azerbaijan.

Svetlana Gannushkina was extremely dissatisfied with the fact that the special services of Azerbaijan have declared Voskanyan a criminal and published his photo in the newspapers. ''This is very dangerous for him because the radicals may recognize him and start attacks''. She reminds that only the courts are authorized to declare someone a criminal. Hinting at the possible consequences of the campaign against the human rights activist, rather undesirable for Azerbaijan, the co-chairmen informed the authorities of the country that the International Working Group is not going to give up the cooperation with Albert Voskanyan. The search of missing people and release of imprisoned is more important for us that the propaganda,'' Bernhard Klazen, Svetlana Gannushkina and Paata Zakareishvili said.