On 27 March, the PACE rapporteurs Sunna Evarsdottir (Iceland), Sir Roger Gale (United Kingdom) and Stefan Schennach (Austria) responded to the statements made by the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in regard to the “isolation” of the country’s political opposition as a response to the coronavirus pandemic, reported Turan.

“I am astonished and appalled by the Azerbaijani government’s shameful exploitation of the coronavirus pandemic to launch yet another crack-down on the country’s beleaguered political opposition. It begs belief that any head of state would abuse a public health emergency in order to tighten his grip on power,” said Gale.

“The language used by President Aliyev to describe his country’s legitimate political opposition as a traitorous ‘fifth column’ is profoundly undemocratic. It is precisely in times of public emergency that political pluralism and responsibly exercised freedom of expression are most important, so as to allow open debate on policy and the free flow of information amongst the public,” said Schennah.

Azerbaijan’s Permanent Representative to PACE Fakhraddin Ismayilov responded to these statements, saying that they were biased towards his country. "The PACE platform, based on mutual respect, is unfortunately used to promote an unfair campaign rather than dialogue and cooperation. At the same time, Azerbaijan is unequivocally and decisively rejecting forms of relations based on pressure and threats,” he said.

On 19 March, Aliyev delivered a public speech to the nation ahead of the Novruz holidays. In his speech he outlined the measures undertaken by his government to combat the spread of COVID-19 in the country. He was also vocal towards the Azerbaijani opposition which he described as “enemies from the inside.” “Let everyone know this. It is possible that a state of emergency may be declared at some point. In this case, the isolation of representatives of the fifth column will become a historical necessity,” he said (Caucasus Watch reported). 

The current tally of infected persons remained unchanged in the country, amounting to 104 cases.