ASSA-Irada,
14, May 2008

The registration of Azerbaijan's Election Monitoring Center has been revoked, according to a ruling of the Khatai district court of Baku handed down Wednesday.

The judge sustained a relevant plea, rendering null and void the registration, which went into effect in February. The plea filed by the Center against the Justice Ministry was rejected.

The organization's co-founder Anar Mammadli charged that the arguments presented by the ministry were not grounds to invalidate its registration. He said the decision was unfair and vowed to appeal against it.

The plea was filed on April 17 by the ministry's senior department on registration and notary affairs. It explained the move by uncertain information about the founders in the Center's documents and failure to inform the ministry about its changed legal address. The plaintiff also said information about the center's representations located in eight cities of the country was not included in a respective state register.

"The decision to close down the Election Monitoring Center is perturbing. We consider this a step back," the US embassy spokesman Johnatan Henick told Radio Liberty. "Azerbaijan has stated its intention to hold a free and free election in October. We believe that local observers play an important role in the elections and there should be absolutely no restrictions on their activity. We call on Azerbaijani officials and the Center to work together to solve outstanding technical matters, and hope that the organization will be registered again," the spokesman said.

AZERBAIJAN PARLIAMENT COMMENCES DISCUSSIONS ON AMENDMENTS TO ELECTORAL CODE AND LAW ON FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY