Editing Council of Europe (section)

=== "Caviar diplomacy" scandal ===
{{See also|Azerbaijani laundromat}}
After Azerbaijan joined the CoE in 2001, both the Council and its Parliamentary Assembly were criticised for having a weak response to election rigging and [[Human rights in Azerbaijan|human rights violations in Azerbaijan]].<ref name=PACEGuard>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/law/2018/apr/22/council-of-europe-members-suspected-of-corruption-inquiry-reveals |title=Council of Europe members suspected of corruption, inquiry reveals |work=The Guardian |date=22 April 2018 |access-date=24 September 2020}}</ref> The [[Human Rights Watch]] criticised the Council of Europe in 2014 for allowing Azerbaijan to assume the six-month rotating chairmanship of the council's Committee of Ministers, writing that the Azeri government's repression of human rights defenders, dissidents, and journalists "shows sheer contempt for its commitments to the Council of Europe".<ref name="HRW_Criticism">{{cite news|last1=Human Rights Watch|title=Azerbaijan: Government Repression Tarnishes Chairmanship Council of Europe's Leadership Should Take Action|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/09/29/azerbaijan-government-repression-tarnishes-chairmanship|access-date=29 September 2014|date=29 September 2014}}</ref> An internal inquiry was set up in 2017 amid allegations of bribery by Azerbaijan government officials and criticism of "[[caviar diplomacy]]" at the council.<ref name=Rankin>Jennifer Rankin, [https://www.theguardian.com/law/2017/feb/01/council-of-europe-urged-investigate-azerbaijan-bribery-allegations Council of Europe urged to investigate Azerbaijan bribery allegations], ''The Guardian'', 1 February 2017.</ref><ref name=Valencia>{{cite magazine |author=Matthew Valencia |url=https://www.economist.com/1843/2016/08/31/caviar-diplomacy-in-azerbaijan |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926025428/https://www.economist.com/1843/2016/08/31/caviar-diplomacy-in-azerbaijan |archive-date=26 September 2020 |url-status=unfit |title=Heaping on the Caviar Diplomacy |magazine=[[The Economist]] |date=19 June 2020 |access-date=24 September 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref> A 219-page report was issued in 2018 after a ten-month investigation.<ref name=PACEGuard/> It concluded that several members of the Parliamentary Assembly broke CoE ethical rules and were "strongly suspected" of corruption; it strongly criticised former Parliamentary Assembly president [[Pedro Agramunt]] and suggested that he had engaged in "corruptive activities" before his resignation under pressure in 2017.<ref name=PACEGuard/> The inquiry also named Italian member [[Luca Volontè]] as a suspect in "activities of a corruptive nature".<ref name=PACEGuard/> Volontè was investigated by Italian police and accused by Italian prosecutors in 2017 of receiving over 2.39 million euros in bribes in exchange for working for Azerbaijan in the parliamentary assembly, and that in 2013 he played a key role in orchestrating the defeat of a highly critical report on the abuse of political prisoners in Azerbaijan.<ref name=Rankin/><ref name=Valencia/><ref>{{Cite news|language=it|first=Milena|last=Gabanelli|url=http://www.corriere.it/cronache/17_gennaio_30/consiglio-d-europa-caso-azerbaijan-regali-milioni-2cbc0b5e-e66b-11e6-84c1-08780d9999f1.shtml?refresh_ce-cp|title=Il Consiglio d'Europa e il caso Azerbaijan tra regali e milioni |trans-title=The Council of Europe and the Azerbaijan case between gifts and millions |work=Corriere della Sera|access-date=30 January 2017}}</ref> In 2021, Volontè was convicted of accepting bribes from Azerbaijani officials to water down critiques of the nation's human rights record, and he was sentenced by a court in [[Milan]] to four years in prison.<ref>Zdravko Ljubas, [https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/13628-italian-court-sentences-former-council-of-europe-mp-for-bribery Italian Court Sentences Former Council of Europe MP for Bribery], [[Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project]] (14 January 2021).</ref>