Azerbaijani rights defenders call on CE to give legal assessment of amendments to Constitution

Azerbaijani human rights defenders have sent an appeal to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CE) with a request to the Venice Commission to analyze the draft amendments to the Azerbaijani Constitution. According to the human rights defenders, the amendment to the Constitution would lead to the dominance of the President and to violations of human rights.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 18, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev ordered to send to the Constitutional Court the draft of the Act on referendum on amendments to the Constitution. The referendum is scheduled for September 26.

The authors of the appeal to the CE have pointed to "the lack of opportunities in the country to fully inform citizens about the possible consequences of the referendum."

The human rights defenders have also noted the rashness of the referendum procedures.

Anar Mamedli, one of the authors of the appeal, the leader of the Centre for Election Monitoring and Democracy Training (CEMDT), has stated that "the proposed amendments are undemocratic in terms of the CE standards and practices of democratic states."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.