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The definition of political prisoners

Motion for a resolution | Doc. 11922 | 19 May 2009

Signatories:
Mr Pedro AGRAMUNT, Spain, EPP/CD ; Mr Ulrich ADAM, Germany ; Mr Luc Van den BRANDE, Belgium, EPP/CD ; Ms Anne BRASSEUR, Luxembourg ; Mr Mevlüt ÇAVUŞOĞLU, Turkey, EDG ; Mr Hubert DEITTERT, Germany ; Mr Andreas GROSS, Switzerland, SOC ; Mr Holger HAIBACH, Germany ; Mr Mike HANCOCK, United Kingdom, ALDE ; Mr Andres HERKEL, Estonia, EPP/CD ; Mr Gerd HÖFER, Germany ; Mr Joachim HÖRSTER, Germany, EPP/CD ; Ms Corien W.A. JONKER, Netherlands, EPP/CD ; Mr Konstantin KOSACHEV, Russian Federation, EDG ; Mr Göran LINDBLAD, Sweden, EPP/CD ; Mr Eduard LINTNER, Germany ; Ms Christine McCAFFERTY, United Kingdom ; Sir Alan MEALE, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Jean-Claude MIGNON, France, EPP/CD ; Mr Christos POURGOURIDES, Cyprus, EPP/CD ; Mr Robert WALTER, United Kingdom, EDG ; Mr Paul WILLE, Belgium ; Mr David WILSHIRE, United Kingdom, EDG ; Mr Wolfgang WODARG, Germany ; Mr Emanuelis ZINGERIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD
Thesaurus

The Assembly considers that a rapporteur should be appointed to report on a clear definition for properly indentifying political prisoners. This should be done as soon as possible.

At the present time, there are real concerns that there are no clear criteria for defining political prisoners.

The above-mentioned report should contain:

  • clear criteria;
  • a benchmark for who should be regarded as a genuine political prisoner.

We also request that this be done and a report adopted by the Assembly before any report on political prisoners is prepared in respect of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Moldova or any other country.

The current situation is that there are many views and interpretations of who should be regarded as political prisoner.

Consequently, as a matter of urgency, the process of appointing a rapporteur to draft recognised and respected criteria for defining political prisoners is in the interest of all member states of the Council of Europe.