24/06/2026 | 20:08:42 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) President, dear colleagues, Thanks to the rapporteur! The report before us is clear about the scale of political imprisonment in Azerbaijan. According to Azerbaijani human rights defenders, there were 328 political prisoners in Azerbaijan in May this year. That number includes, human rights defenders such as Mr Anar MAMMADLI, academics such as Mr Iqbal ABILOV and Mr Bahruz SAMADOV and opposition figures such as Mr Ali KARIMLI, lawyers... 24/06/2026 | 18:04:12 Mister President, Dear colleagues, I would also like to start by thanking the rapporteurs for their very important work with this report. Across our member states, we are seeing a deeply worrying development. The number of political prisoners is increasing. That should tell us something. Political prisoners are not only a violation of individual rights, they are a warning sign that the rule of law is being turned against democracy itself. When courts and criminal law are used to remove... 23/06/2026 | 19:01:38 Dear colleagues, Dear Mr Jacques PARIS, thank you to the rapporteur for this very important report. I was actually born in Iran and I was 5 years old when I moved to Sweden together with my parents. They left Iran because they wanted their daughter to grow up in freedom and in dignity. And what my parents wanted for me in life is what millions of people inside of Iran still are demanding after 45 years. They want the right to live without fear. But the truth is that the Iranian regime, the... 23/06/2026 | 11:47:58 Dear colleagues, Türkiye's democratic backsliding is not new. What is new is the scale and the confidence with which the instruments of the states are now used against democratic oppositions. Courts, prosecutors and criminal law should protect democracy. In Türkiye, they are increasingly used to narrow it. Political opponents are no longer only met through democratic competition. They are investigated, detained, removed from office, prosecuted and kept under the constant threat of... 21/04/2026 | 12:14:09 Madam President. Thank you, Secretary General. The European Convention on Human Rights has long been a cornerstone of the Council of Europe, and the interpretation of the Convention has been a matter for the European Court of Human Rights. Now that some governments have opened a discussion – even if the outcome will only be a declaration – many are rightfully concerned that such a declaration with an unclear legal status could risk challenging the independence of the Court. As member states... 29/01/2026 | 11:33:40 Ms President, Dear colleagues, We are confronted with mass murder. In Iran, at least 30 000 people were killed in just two days between 8 and 9 January. This was not chaos. It was not accidental. It was a deliberate act by a regime against its own people. It was a massacre. Peaceful protesters demanding freedom and dignity were met with systematic and lethal force. These acts constitute a grave violation of human rights and may amount to crimes against humanity. The Iranian authority must... 09/04/2025 | 16:27:31 Thank you, Mister President. Dear colleagues, as general rapporteur on political prisoners, I would like to take this moment not to repeat the facts about the situation in Türkiye, which has already been addressed, but to offer a broader reflection on what is at stake when we speak of political prisoners such as Mr Ekrem İMAMOĞLU in a Council of Europe member state such as Türkiye. This is not only about one individual case. It is about a dangerous erosion of the fundamental distinction... 07/04/2025 | 12:08:57 Thank you. Dear Mister President, dear colleagues, The world around us and the situation within our member states continue to evolve in ways that demand our vigilance and action. This is clearly reflected in the number of urgent and current debates proposed for this session. These are not merely agenda items. They represent growing concerns about the erosion of democracy and fundamental freedoms across Europe. In Türkiye, we are witnessing a deeply troubling pattern of repression. The recent... 01/10/2024 | 17:55:59 Mister President, Over the past years we have witnessed the government of Azerbaijan systematically erode the basics of freedom, human rights, and rule of law in Azerbaijan. A very concerning situation that is rapidly getting worse. Let us start with the state of elections in Azerbaijan. They are neither free nor fair, opposition parties face constant harassment and many independent candidates are disqualified or imprisoned under false charges. In democracy, elections are meant to reflect the... 16/04/2024 | 17:38:45 Dear colleagues, The accession of Kosovo to the Council of Europe will strengthen peace and stability in the still fragile Balkan region, but most importantly, it will extend the protection of the European Convention on Human Rights to the people of this young country and it will help to further strengthen the rule of law in the interest of all inhabitants, no matter which ethnic group they belong to. The draft statutory Opinion by the Political Committee recognises that Kosovo fulfils all...