After meeting with Nils Muižnieks, Azerbaijani activists hope for his help in addressing human rights problems

Nils Muižnieks, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe (CE), has begun his visit to Azerbaijan with the meeting with representatives of civil society held on October 22. At the meeting, they discussed the problems of political prisoners and the obstacles faced by NGOs in Azerbaijan. Nils Muižnieks has assured participants of the meeting that he will raise questions of NGOs during the expected meetings with officials in Baku.

During the meeting, some participants have expressed their scepticism about the challenge to solve the problem of political prisoners through the working group re-established on October 22, since it consists of representatives of the authorities and civil society ", including a large number of leaders of the pro-government NGOs."

Besides, the meeting has also paid attention to the problems faced by NGOs in Azerbaijan.

Gyunai Ismailova, a member of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS), has reminded the audience that on October 17, the National Assembly of Azerbaijan introduced the amendments to the laws on NGOs, providing the procedure for foreign donors to provide grants to public associations of Azerbaijan. According to Gyunai Ismailova, those amendments actually make projects dependent on the will of the authorities.

Advocate Khalid Bakirov has noted that he and his colleagues have drawn the Commissioner's attention to the problems of the judicial system in Azerbaijan and the lack of its independence.