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Over 60 PACE members from nearly 30 countries issued a declaration in connection with the arrest of the famous Azerbaijani activist, chairman of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center (EMDSC) Anar Mamedly, the Azerbaijani news agency "Turan" writes.

As noted in the article, the declaration, which was signed by representatives of all political groups of PACE, is extended as an official document of the Assembly among the participants of its winter session.

The document notes that Mamedly is known as civil society activist, who has collaborated with international organizations, including the Council of Europe. His organization has been monitoring the elections in Azerbaijan since 2001. It has conducted monitored during the presidential elections on October 9, 2013 in Azerbaijan throughout the country and has distributed a report containing criticism towards the electoral process.

EMDSC is also a member of the European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE), established by the institutions of civil society of EU countries and states of "Eastern Partnership". Mamedly was elected a member of the EPDE board.

Authors of declaration urged the Azerbaijani authorities to ensure a fair and transparent legal process over Mamedly, with the fulfillment of the requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights. PACE members also call to set Mamedly free from the pre-trial detention.

As "Turan" notes, earlier, the international human rights organization Amnesty International has recognized Mamedli as a "prisoner of conscience."

On 9 of October Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center (EMDSC) implemented a monitoring of Azerbaijani presidential elections and recorded numerous law violations. In late October, the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s Office opened a criminal case and started investigations on EMDSC. In regard to this an alliance organization “European Platform for Democratic Elections” (EPDE) issued a statement which says that EPDE protests against the arbitrary and illegal prosecutions on EMDSC head Anar Mammadli. The alliance regrets for the measures the Azerbaijani government deploys against “independent, honest position of this organization in assessing the presidential elections in the country.”

On 9 October presidential elections took place in Azerbaijan in which the incumbent president Ilham Aliyev won the elections with almost 85% of the vote, thereby taking the post for the third time. The head of National Council of Democratic Forces Jamil Hasanli was second after Aliyev with 5.5% of vote. The opposition declared that it wouldn’t accept the election results because the elections were totally violated by ballot-box staffing, “carousel” etc. OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, U.S Department of State, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Britain and European Parliament called the elections undemocratic and inconsistent with OSCE standards.