Azerbaijani NGOs complain of police pressure

On June 13, several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) of Azerbaijan, whose offices are located in central Baku, in No. 68 Shamsi Badalbeili Street, were pressed by the police, as reported by Leila Yunus, head of the Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD).

The pretext for the pressure was the inscription made in paint on the wall of the single-storey building reading that the building houses the IPD, the Women's Crisis Centre and the Association to Ban Land Mines, whose rights are guaranteed by the Constitution of Azerbaijan and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Around the midday, several men in plainclothes arrived at the IPD office and demanded to erase the inscriptions. Later, policemen of the 21st station of the Nasimi District Police Division of Baku appeared headed by Senior Lieutenant Ismail Shakhbazov, who also said that inscriptions on the wall of the house are inadmissible; although they could not explain why, Ms Yunus told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The 21st station and the Nasimi District Police Department refused to comment on the incident around the offices of NGOs and advised to contact the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA). However, the latter also refrained from comments, citing "absence of information."