The Council of Europe "attempts to change the human rights situation in Belarus"

Azim Malazade, the reporter for Belarus of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, said in an interview with Radio Liberty that the best step the official Minsk could take to establish dialog with the Council of Europe would be releasing all political prisoners.
Azim Malazade is collecting information about the situation in Belarus from all possible sources. He is in permanent contact with public and political organizations, independent media of the counry. All cases of the human rights violations in Belarus will be analyzed in the special report which Mr. Malazade is planning to voice during the autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe at the sitting of the Subcommittee for Belarus.
Azim Malazade and the reporters from other international organizations will attend a special conference for the problems of Belarus staged at the initiative of the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO. During the planned conference in Vilnius the international community will discuss the possible solutions to the current situation in Belarus.
The Belarusian problems remain under close attention from the Council of Europe. The special reporter Azim Malazade regards as urgent coordination of efforts of all international structures and the use of all international mechanisms to influence the official Minsk.
It is still not clear whether the reporter of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Azim Malazade will be able to come to Belarus. The Council of Europe is now working at this problem.
Mr. Malazade said: "Belarus does not have any contacts with the international organizations. The UN reporter on human rights was barred from entry to Belarus, a European Union delegation had problems. We believe that the official Minsk has to make a step forward to improve the situation so that we could come to see the situation with our own eyes. The Council of Europe could view as a serious step amnesty and release of all political prisoners. This could be a very important event which would lead the Council of Europe to step up its cooperation with Belarus. And then we could try and move in some other directions".