– I was threatened – NRK Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country

The following year something further reinforced the suspects of corruption. The majority of the assembly voted against a critical report on the situation of political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

• Norway's Karin Woldseth of Frp was one of them. More about this

– Ripped together

Rumors swirled. Schou talks about games and secret transactions in the back room

– It was like that when you were little and you had no right to be with the big ones children to play. You know that there was someone who had rotted in advance.

It refers specifically to what happened when the Romanian Cezar Florin Preda was elected leader of his group, the conservative Christian Democrat Party of the European People's Party (EPP), in January 2017. [19659020] – The management of the group was designed in advance. In fact, this patch surprised some of us, where we saw that it would be the result, well before the vote.

NRK did not manage to get a comment from Preda in this case

Fear of Credibility

During the same period, Schou wrote a letter that was very unpopular among many members. in the assembly.

In the open letter, the Nordic and Baltic delegations requested that allegations of corruption be examined.

According to Schou, several of his EPP colleagues fought against this

– It is very unpleasant to meet strong resistance for a long time from their own colleagues, of course, she says.

She will not reveal who tried to push her.

– I have no reason to move on. The person and those who were angry were active politicians. We have launched a President of the European Council and do the same with some parliamentary leaders and other key politicians in several political parties

– What do you think of the threats today?

– The press to which I was exposed must not overshadow the most important thing here: namely, someone tried to destroy a democratic organization. Our role is to ensure that member states respect human rights and hold free elections. We lose all credibility if we are an organization where people can buy votes, she says.

"Strong suspicion of corruption"

His party member and president of Pace, the Spanish Pedro Agramunt, was among those suspected of corruption. have very close links with the authoritarian regime in Azerbaijan. It was the same with Cezar Florin Preda of Romania

Just three months after Norway and the Nordic and Baltic countries demanded scrutiny, they received a majority in Pace. In the meantime, 56 organizations had also been maintained

In April of this year, the report arrived.

The investigation, conducted by three former British, French and Swedish judges, concluded that evidence had been found.

The strong suspicion was at its peak, and according to the report, the former president of Pace, Pedro Agramunt, also applies. The controversial Spaniard was launched in the fall of 2017 after visiting Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad, under the leadership of the Russian authorities.

Never before had Pace been elected president. In the wake of the report, a number of current and former members were also deprived of their privileges.

Schou: – They do not give up to the first sword

But Schou is not convinced that Azerbaijan and other countries that violate human rights do not Have more influence on the assembly.

– No, that I'm not sure. But I am confident that it will be much more difficult for them because there is more attention around that. It's the beginning of something that must be followed all the time, she says and continues:

– I see that those who opposed this independent magazine continue to slap their heads and I do not think that they will handle the first sword. I always think that there will be people who try to exert influence to avoid critical attention. But I am happy that we are on the right track.

NRK sent an email to the head of the Azerbaijani delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. The person did not answer questions about their relationship with the bribery allegations.