Brussels, 04/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 4 April, the vice-chair of the Euronest Assembly, Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy (ALDE), called on the authorities of Azerbaijan to “strongly improve the human rights situation in Azerbaijan and to use the full potential of its people, including those with opposing views”. “It is unacceptable that people are imprisoned just for their political beliefs”, he said. Berbrandy stressed that “the EU should not close its eyes for the lack of democracy just because of the key role Azerbaijan plays in Europe's energy security objectives”. The MP has spoken to the Azeri president, Ilham Aliev, about possible improvements in democracy, human rights and press freedom, but was denied permission to visit political prisoners from the Musavat Party, Arif Hajili and Tural Abbasli. (CG/transl.fl)