Council of Europe secretary general Walter Schwimmer stated there still were political prisoners in Azerbaijan. As reported by "Mediamax" agency, addressing à press club in Zagreb, W.Schwimmer noted that if the Council of Europe had not accepted Azerbaijan into its ranks, many political prisoners would have remained in their cells until now. "We have already provided for the release of 400 out of them, but we know for certain that some of the 250 convicts who stayed in Azerbaijan are still being persecuted for their political beliefs," - Walter Schwimmer noted.