PACE president says Azerbaijan must free political prisoners to rejoin

PACE President Petra Bayr

The president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has warned that Azerbaijan must release key political prisoners and lift travel bans before it can rejoin the human rights body.

Petra Bayr told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) that there has been "no change in a positive direction" regarding human rights in Azerbaijan over recent months.

Relations between Baku and the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe broke down in January 2024, when the assembly voted not to ratify the credentials of the Azerbaijani delegation, citing a failure to meet democratic commitments.

In response, Baku suspended its participation in the assembly, accusing the body of "double standards" and "Azerbaijanophobia".

Bayr, an Austrian politician who took office as PACE president, is herself among at least 70 assembly members placed on a state "blacklist" and barred from entering Azerbaijan. She said this ban has made direct dialogue physically impossible.

"If Azerbaijan is serious about this process and wants to demonstrate its intention to return as a full member, it must at least release some prominent political prisoners," Bayr said. "We know that some of them were arrested with almost no basis."

She rejected claims from pro-government media in Baku that PACE is biased against the Caspian nation.

"To be honest, I know very few countries that pursue such a harsh policy against the political opposition, independent journalists, free media, and civil society as Azerbaijan," she said.

Azerbaijani officials have previously dismissed critical PACE resolutions as mere "pieces of paper". Bayr argued that such an attitude is "the problem itself" rather than a solution, adding that Baku has used its absence from the assembly to justify not implementing European Court of Human Rights rulings.

The dispute comes amid growing European reliance on Azerbaijani energy. Austria, Bayr's home country, began importing natural gas from the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) in January 2026, making it the 10th European Union nation to do so.

Bayr said she intended to investigate the deal upon returning to Austria, but stressed that European nations must diversify away from authoritarian regimes.

"We must completely end our energy dependence, whether it is on the Russian Federation, Azerbaijan, or other sources," she said. "We must work seriously on securing our energy independence [and] developing the renewable energy sector."