Situation with human rights in Azerbaijan is the worst for the last 20 years

Local civil society activists have assessed the human rights situation in Azerbaijan as the worst in the last 20 years. Activists of the "Committee for Civil Society Protection" (CCSP) have decided to appeal to the country's authorities to take measures to restore the rights of political prisoners, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

An emergency sitting of the CCSP, which was founded by more than 50 local NGOs, was held on July 31.

As reported by Arzu Abdullaeva, the coordinator of the CCSP, a co-chair and the head of the Azerbaijani National Committee of the Helsinki Civil Assembly, the reason for convoking the emergency sitting was in the alarming reports about deterioration of health condition of rights defender Leyla Yunus and her husband Arif Yunus, as well as an attack in Colony No. 2 on Ilgar Mamedov, the leader of the movement "Republican Alternative" (ReAl).

According to Ms Abdullaeva, if until recently political prisoners were under moral pressure, the incident with Mamedov has revealed a new dangerous trend – application of physical pressure against activists.

She offered to consolidate the efforts of the civil society towards protecting the rights of political prisoners and to strengthen contacts with the Committee for Monitoring Prisons under the Ministry of Justice, and with the Joint Human Rights Working Group.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.