PACE applies sanctions on four lawmakers over Azerbaijani corruption scandal

STEPANAKERT, MAY 16, ARTSAKHPRESS:In addition to Seyidov, sanctions were imposed on former PACE President Pedro Agramunt (Spain), former rapporteur on Ukraine Jordi Xuclà (Spain) and Cezar Preda (Romania), head of the Ukrainian delegation to PACE Volodymyr Ariev said on Facebook.

“The PACE committee acknowledged that Pedro Agramunt and Jordi Xuclà have breached the code of conduct in the matters concerning Azerbaijan”, Ariev said, adding that these lawmakers have lost almost all rights of the PACE member, expect from the right to vote and submit resolutions.

Member of the Ukrainian delegation to PACE Oleksiy Honcharenko said the sanctions on Agramunt will be applied for 10 years, those on the remaining three lawmakers – for 2 years.

It is expected PACE will issue an official statement on this matter.

The Council of Europe launched investigation over the corruption scandal at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) involving Azerbaijan.

Some PACE members are accused of doing favors for Azerbaijan.

In particular, there are suspicions that Azerbaijan influenced PACE’s rejection of 2013 report: during that time PACE rejected a report by German Social Democrat MP Christoph Strässer, which deplored human rights abuses in Azerbaijan and urged the authorities there to release political prisoners. According to some reports, Azerbaijan offered bribe worth more than 2.5 million USD to one of PACE members Luca Volontè for the report to be rejected.