The Members of the European Parliament
To: Mr. Ilham Aliyev President of the Republic of Azerbaijan
Brussels, 18 December 2013
Arrestation of Anar Mammadli
Dear President,
with great concern we have learned that on December 16th Anar Mammadli, chairman of The Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre, Baku (EMDS ) and board member of the network European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE) has been arrested and given a three months pre-trial detention at the Nasimin District Court in Baku.
The EMDS is one of the most professional and best reputed election observation organisations in the Eastern partnership region. The work of EMDS is highly appreciated by ODIHR. the Council of Europe and the European Parliament.
Independent citizens’ election observation as conducted by EMDS is an indispensable right of voters to exert control over electoral processes. We are seriously concerned that a sentence of Anar Mammadli would considerably throw back the Republic of Azerbaijan in their efforts for improving election processes in the country.
We urgently recommend to immediately releasing Anar Mammadly from pre-trial detention. We recommend to further support and develop citizens’ activities in the field of electoral processes. We strongly recommend to grant registration to EMDS and to do anything possible to support citizens in their activities for free and fair elections in your country.
Yours faithfully:
Joachim Zeller
Member of the Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly (EPP), Member of the Election Observation Mission to Azerbaijan
Ulrike Lunacek
Member of the Delegation to the EU-Armenia, EU-Azcrbaijan and EU-Georgia Parliamentary Cooperation Committees (Greens/EFA)
Werner Schulz
Member of the Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly (Greens/EFA)
Filip Kaczmarek
Member of the Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly (EPP), Member of the Election Observation Mission to Azerbaijan
