February 16 – Minister of Internal Affairs of the Azerbaijan Republic Colonel General Ramil Usubov received the delegation of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment headed by Mr. Mikola Gnatovsky.
Having welcomed the guests, the Minister mentioned that the Ministry of Internal Affairs maintains close relations with the Council of Europe and emphasized an important role of the activities carried out in the field of human rights and freedoms protection within the scope of these relations. He noted that in the late 90s of the last century, before Azerbaijan became a member of the Council of Europe, a number of new legislative acts were adopted with the participation of experts from credible international organizations and leading European countries to regulate the police activities and make protection of human rights and freedoms the high-priority area, and our country has made meaningful progress in the scope of their application. The Azerbaijan Republic also joined key international instruments including conventions in the area of human rights.

Mr. Usubov noted that our country attaches prime significance to the comprehensive cooperation with the Council of Europe in the area of democratic state building, respect for human rights and supremacy of statute law in the country and is keen to continuous development of this effective cooperation.
The Minister also mentioned the Special Action Plans developed in the MIA for the purpose of fulfilment of commitments arising from the Order of President of the Azerbaijan Republic Ilham Aliyev on protection of human rights in our country.
About 2500 employees of the law-enforcement agencies took part in training and workshops on human rights conducted in our country and abroad over the last five years to widen their world outlook and adopt best international practices.
The Minister also noted that the personnel takes appropriate measures to provide prompt and impartial investigation of applications on violation of human rights and freedoms.
Over the 5-year period 1579 officers were punished for violation of civil rights, including 146 officers dismissed from IAA, 134 officers discharged from their posts, and 6 persons charged with criminal offences.  
The Minister also reminded of the visit of the delegation headed by Mr. Gnatovsky to our country and monitoring conducted by it in temporary facilities of the police agencies, noted that all recommendations given in respect of further improvement of prison conditions were taken into consideration that is another evidence of the effective cooperation between the Ministry of Internal Affairs and relevant bodies of the Council of Europe and touched on the work done in this area. All necessary measures were taken to reconstruct temporary detention facilities of the territorial police departments in compliance with up-to-date international standards including widespread use of state-of-the-art IT opportunities, creating conditions for unlimited monitoring of TDFs by observers from governmental and non-governmental organizations.

The Minister also mentioned appropriate measures taken within the scope of the cooperation with the civil society and mass media along with other government authorities in maintenance of public order and security in the republic. Mr. Usubov noted with regret that there were some cases of preconceived unfounded and biased appeals to a number of credible international organizations including the Council of Europe aimed at causing damage to the police reputation and image in the society and attempts made by certain persons to mislead the public opinion in this aspect.

Having expressed their gratitude for hearty reception and detailed information, Mr. Mikola Gnatovsky noted with satisfaction that shortcomings detected by CPT during the monitoring were removed in a short space of time, and all recommendations were taken into consideration, at the same time the Ministry’s administration always adheres to a committed position in respect of any cases of violation of human and civil rights and freedoms. The guests also expressed their interest in further development of this effective cooperation.
The parties also discussed a number of other matters of concern during the meeting.