Italian lawmaker handed 4-year jail term for taking bribes from AzerbaijanJanuary 12, 2021 - 11:04 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Luca Volontè, former deputy and member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, was sentenced today in Milan to four years in prison taking bribes from Azerbaijan, La Repubblica reports. According to the indictment, he abused his power, receiving half a million euros from two Azerbaijani politicians to influence the vote and obtain the rejection of a report on political prisoners in the South Caucasus republic to the advantage of the Azerbaijani government. The so-called Straesser Report on the conditions of political prisoners in Azerbaijan was put to the vote in January 2013.(According to the investigation, Volontè, the then representative for Italy who finished his mandate that same year, was promised €10 million between 2012 and 2014 but ended receiving about €2.4 million (with the court managing to prove the fact of half a million euro bribe). It was revealed in 2017 that Azerbaijan's ruling elite operated a secret €2.5bn ($ 2.9 billion) slush fund to pay off European politicians and make luxury purchases. People said to have been paid include European politicians who adopted a favourable attitude to the government. Top stories Azerbaijani authorities report that they have already resettled 3,000 people in the Nagorno-Karabakh town of Stepanakert. On June 10, Azerbaijani President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev will leave for Turkey on a working visit. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived in Moscow on April 22 to hold talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. Partner news | Viva sees growing demand for cloud services In recent years, medical institutions are starting to make use of Viva’s cloud services Armenian, German presidents meet in Berlin Armenian and German Presidents Vahagn Khachaturyan and Frank-Walter Steinmeier met in Berlin. Armenia assumes presidency of Mediterranean Network of Regulatory Authorities The Commission on Television and Radio of Armenia said it expects productive cooperation in various formats. Balance of attached cards in the Idram&IDBank app From now on, users will be able to view the online balances of cards issued by ArCa system banks and attached to the app. |