Azerbaijan civil society reports increased number of 98 political prisoners

In Azerbaijan, the report "List of Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan" compiled due cooperation of activists and institutions of Azerbaijani civil society has been published. On August 8, the list was disseminated, and it included the names of 97 persons. However, human rights defender Intigam Aliev was arrested and recognized a political prisoner after the report had been published.

The "List of Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan" has been approved by a working group consisting of member of 12 NGOs and a group of advocates on the basis of the lists compiled by of human rights defenders Rasul Jafarov and Leyla Yunus, who themselves were arrested in late July.

In Azerbaijan, the number of political prisoners began to grow after the PACE session of January 23, 2013, had rejected the resolution on political prisoners in Azerbaijan based on the report prepared by Christoph Strasser, a German MP.

The situation also failed to improve after on May 14, 2014, Azerbaijan started its six-month chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE).

The "List of Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan" includes journalists, bloggers, human rights defenders, youth activists, and others.

The visit of Spanish MP Pedro Agramunt, the PACE Rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan, to study the situation is scheduled for September, and he is to submit his report on political prisoners at the January session of the PACE 2015.