Valiyeva: Corruption scandals raise serious doubts about transparency of European Parliament

Former International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Ocampo is known to have implemented projects with financial support from the Armenian lobby. He also used his experience in organizing smear campaigns on social media against Azerbaijan during COP29, Azerbaijani MP Parvana Valiyeva told Report.

"The main goals of the campaign were to undermine the country's international image, disrupt the event in Baku, deter the participation of foreign officials, exploit the situation as a tool for political pressure, and attempt to secure the release of individuals of Armenian descent accused of war crimes held in Azerbaijan," Valiyeva noted.

She emphasized that the campaign was conducted systematically and in a coordinated manner: "The campaign was conducted at predetermined times, using prepared materials, designated hashtags, and talking points. This is clear evidence of a networked and organized approach."

According to her, the social media coordination mechanism serves as further confirmation: when posting messages on the X platform, participants automatically received instructions on which hashtags, wording, and messages to use, as well as additional "tasks" for participating in the campaign.

The MP also stated that Luis Moreno Ocampo himself served as the "public face" of this campaign and actively participated in the development and dissemination of its talking points.

According to her, in an interview with the Armenian Weekly portal on September 6, 2024, Ocampo admitted that he had been invited to lead this campaign. Valiyeva recalled that the initiator was Mario Nalpatian, a member of the Dashnaktsutyun party and vice president of the ANCA.

"This indicates that Ocampo acted on behalf of this organization and supported the separatist agenda," she said.

The MP also drew attention to the broader context, emphasizing that the digital space has effectively become a battlefield today.

"Foreign powers understand perfectly well that influencing public opinion today is easy – all they have to do is use AI-powered bots to stir up sensitive issues within the country. People are pitted against each other, and social media algorithms are already tuned to promote the most emotionally charged content," Valiyeva noted.

According to her, these attempts are being made to weaken trust in government institutions and manipulate public opinion, and the capabilities of artificial intelligence make such processes particularly difficult to control.

Furthermore, the member of parliament recalled the existence of lobby groups in the European Parliament representing the interests of third parties.

"Various corruption scandals in recent years have raised serious questions about the transparency of the European Parliament. It is noteworthy that some members of parliament who previously accused Azerbaijan have subsequently become subjects of investigations themselves," she said.

In her view, this indicates the institution's internal problems and declining trust in it. Valiyeva also noted that revelations of possible ties to Russia at various times had also damaged the organization's reputation.

"The European Parliament, composed of politicians who are not accountable to voters and who suffered electoral defeats, by collaborating with political tools like Ocampo, is effectively becoming a party to yet another corruption scandal," the member added.

She called on European Union countries to take a principled approach to such actions, and on the Argentine Parliament to initiate an investigation into the activities of Luis Moreno Ocampo.

Minval Politika previously published video footage indicating Ocampo's involvement in political corruption.