UPDATED: Azerbaijan puts on the international wanted list the European Parliament members

Foreign observers who are staying in Nagorno-Karabakh to monitor the referendum will be put on ‘persona non grata’ list – said Hikmat Hajiyev, a Spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan (MFA).

“Early inquiry has revealed that the majority of those individuals are already included in the ‘persona non grata’ list. Those are the representatives of Armenian lobby and individuals being under Armenia’s influence. The names of some other individuals will be clarified and included in this list in accordance with the appropriate procedure,” Hikmat Hajiyev told Interfax-Azerbaijan news agency.

Azerbaijani General Prosecutor’s Office puts on the international wanted list the European Parliament members-Frank Engel (Luxemburg); Eleni Theocharous (Cyprus) and Jaromír Štětina (Czech Republic). The reason is that they visited Nagorno-Karabakh during the referendum.  

More details on Azerbaijani MFA’s ‘black list’ are available here.

Referendum on draft new Constitution of the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh Republic was conducted on February 20. Through the constitutional referendum, the locals are supposed to decide, whether they consent to transition to the presidential form of government.

• Find more details about Karabakh referendum here.

• Earlier, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry termed as illegitimate the Karabakh referendum.

• According to Nagorno-Karabakh Central Election Commission (CEC) data, as of February 19, overall 207 observers, including 104 foreign observers from 30 countries, will monitor the voting process.