Your trusted source

Presidential elections on October 9 were held with open and gross violations in Azerbaijan. At the same time, Elkhan Suleymanov, the head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PA "EuroNest" offered MEPs money for giving a positive assessment to the elections. However, despite the favorable opinion of the European Parliament’s observers, the European Parliament took as a base the critical report of the OSCE/ODIHR, said Jamil Hasanli, the presidential candidate from the oppositionist party National Council of Azerbaijan at the interview given to "Minval".

"There is no need to conduct a broad investigation in order to get evidence, since the violations have been widespread. Everything is clear. If previously they tried to juggle the elections by the end of the day, during this election everything was carried out openly," he said.

"Such falsifications could take place only by the instructions that were given from "above". Falsifications of the elections were meant for usurpation of power," he said, noting that the video and the photos with violations have been published in the media.

"Why to have any other evidence? The number of the polling station is known, faces are visible, it was clear what was going on there. They say that they were told to bring 50 people to vote and they did so," he said.

Commenting on his earlier statement about the facts of the Azerbaijani authorities having bribed the European observers, Jamil Hasanli said, "Swiss MP, chairman of the PACE Dick Marty said last year at a conference that on the eve of parliamentary elections in 2010, the Azerbaijani side had offered him a "fee" for him to positively assess the election. He refused the offer, but at the same time expressed uncertainty that his other colleagues had refused it."

On the other hand, Hasanli noted that, "There, in the PACE, everyone, openly recognizes that PACE observation mission has been in the hands of the Azerbaijani authorities." "the hotel where the talks connected to the parliamentary elections were held is known, the person from the Azerbaijani side, who held the negotiations is also known, the amount of money offered is known too as well as the representatives of the observation group," he said.

However Hasanli stressed that not all European parliamentarians had such a conversation, and noted that among the representatives of the Nordic countries, there are people who have a conscience. "But at the same time, there are people who took part in the negotiations with the authorities; the names of the translators are known too, they have also been given large fees. Who is today the most zealous one in connection with the international assessment of the elections? It was this very person who was then heading the negotiations," he said, adding that he was talking about the head of the Azerbaijani delegation to EuroNest Elkhan Suleymanov.

The candidate of the National Council stressed that it is the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights that is engaged in the assessment of the elections taking place in countries that are included in the European territory. "They possess the assessment mandate of the elections. Despite the fact that the authorities stated that they are frivolous and unimportant officials, in reality it should be stressed that they are professional election observers. Their assessment is a kind of yardstick for Europe. It has never occurred that the opinion of the parliamentarians from the European Parliament carrying out the observation was different from the opinion of their colleagues from the OSCE mission. This happened in Azerbaijan for the first time," he said.

Jamil Hasanli noted that seven members of European Parliament were observing the elections in Azerbaijan. "The European Parliament wouldn’t consider the opinion of those 7 people as main assessment in the same time ignoring the opinion of observers from the OSCE. Therefore, even at the meeting in Europe, they told us openly that the assessment of delegation of the European Parliament which was headed by Pino Arlacchi did not seem plausible to them. Just like us they did not expect such a result too. Therefore, they were interested in how this mission was organized, why such different assessment was given to the election results," he said.

The candidate of the National Council noted that as a result the opinion presented by the parliamentarians lost its importance, and the European Parliament took as a basis the critical assessment of the OSCE report. "Tomorrow discussion on infamous elections in Azerbaijan will begin. I call them infamous as the most important evaluation centers in the U.S. have included them in the list of the most infamous events of the year," he stated.

Oppositionist candidate noticed that only two weeks after the elections, "legal image of Azerbaijan opened": Trials over lawyer Gurban Mamedov, theologian Thale Bagirzadeh, politician Ilgar Mamedov, Tofig Yagublu and NIDA activists. "The trouble is not that there is such an extended geography of trials, but that they are all based on trumped up charges. The authorities arrest their citizens with false accusations in order to bargain with the European institutions for account of its own citizens. They want Europe to close its eyes to many things, in return they will release the illegally detained citizens," he said.

Summarizing Jamil Hasanli stated that he plans to reinforce the National Council and the role of society on the way of achieving justice, formation of resistance of people against rigged elections, political repression, and usurpation of power.

On October 9 presidential election were held in Azerbaijan during which incumbent President Ilham Aliyev received 84.54% of votes. Jamil Hasanli, a single candidate from the opposition National Council of Democratic Forces, was on the second place. He scored 5.53% of the vote.

The joint statement of the ODIHR / OSCE observation mission and the Parliamentary Assembly, noted that the presidential elections were held in Azerbaijan in terms of restriction of freedom of speech and assembly. In its turn, the Minister for European Affairs David Lidington stated that the British Foreign Ministry shares the OSCE / ODIHR’s opinion that the presidential elections held in Azerbaijan failed to meet the commitments with OSCE. Opinion of the OSCE and the United Kingdom are also divided the U.S. Department of State.

In its turn, the Minister for European Affairs David Lidington stated that the British Foreign Ministry shares the OSCE / ODIHR’s opinion that the presidential elections held in Azerbaijan failed to meet the commitments with OSCE. The UK and the U.S. State Department shared OSCE opinion.