This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only those who have signed it.
Despite the fact that all members of the Parliamentary Assembly
publicly recognise the rule of law, respect for human rights and
upholding of the principles of democracy, sometimes the perception
of such values on the national level is radically different in different
countries and even different from the principles advocated by the Parliamentary
Assembly, while those values are interpreted very freely, depending
on the political context.
Although the Assembly already adopted Resolution 1950 (2013)
“Keeping political and criminal responsibility separate”, it did
not take into account the fact that in some member States, particularly
in post-Soviet countries, the perception of political persecution
is increasingly being used, governments of member States, courts
and law enforcement agencies interpret the principles of human rights,
democracy and the rule of law very freely, legal immunity of politicians
sometimes becomes an instrument of political games which is not
quite transparent in nature, and litigation related to politicians
often casts doubt concerning their impartiality and transparency.
The Assembly should therefore call:
for the establishment of clear criteria for political
persecution, which would allow any such persecution involving politicians
to be transparent, fair, legitimate and objective;
for the development of an appropriate monitoring mechanism
to monitor and control the values promoted by the Assembly.
