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This week on Wednesday 3 October in the afternoon, a hugely important debate will take place in Strasbourg in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), writes the European Stability Initiative’s Gerald Knaus.
The Parliament will discuss whether to keep or discard the concept of “political prisoner” when they vote on a report by German Social Democrat Christoph Straesser, Special Rapporteur on political prisoners, on “The definition of political prisoners”.
To show what is at stake – and why the eyes of all those who care about European standards of democracy should be on Strasbourg this week – we have produced the following political fable. It illustrates Azerbaijan’s latest attempt to undermine the credibility of the Council of Europe: Ilham the Magician and the Council of Europe.
This picture story can best be viewed – and easily shared – on the ESI Facebook page (or as part of this newsletter: see below). It takes 5 minutes to read.
Earlier this year, ESI published the first part in a series on the future of “European standards”: Caviar Diplomacy. How Azerbaijan Silenced the Council of Europe. Currently we are completing Part Two, taking a look at the mechanisms used to corrupt the guardians of European standards.
