Corruption is suspected in the appointment of Pedro Agramunt, a Spanish former president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe | Frederick Florin/AFP via Getty Images ‘Strong suspicion’ of corrupt activities in Council of Europe: report The investigation says assembly members breached Council’s code of conduct.

A new report says there is a "strong suspicion" of corruption in the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, the international human rights organization.

An independent group published the findings of a 10 month-long investigation last night. In a 219-page report, the authors allege that activities "in favour of Azerbaijan were orchestrated." The investigation was set up to find whether those activities were used to soften criticism of Azerbaijan's government that might have come from the Council.

The report says there was "strong suspicion" of corruption in the appointment of Pedro Agramunt, a Spanish former president of the parliamentary assembly, including "support of a financial nature" from Azerbaijan.

Agramunt was forced to resign as assembly president in 2017 following a vote of no-confidence after he met with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in 2017.

The report also highlighted suspicion that Italian politician and former assembly member Luca Volonté was involved in corrupt activities. Volonté is under investigation in Milan on "suspicion of corruption and money laundering," according to the report. POLITICO last year reported on allegations that Volonté received around €2.4 million from Azerbaijani officials for "his support of political positions of the state" in the Council of Europe.

The report also said there was conflict of interest or breach of parliamentary rules by other members and former members of the parliamentary assembly.

The 47-member Strasbourg-based Council of Europe focuses on human rights, democracy and rule of law. Though the investigation focused on allegations of undue influence by Azerbaijan, the investigation also looked at allegations that Russia, Ukraine and Turkey tried to put pressure on Council members.

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