Activists name main Azerbaijani human rights problems

Azerbaijan has failed so far to show any progress in ensuring democratic freedoms, activists said on the International Human Rights Day. They pointed to a large number of political prisoners and absence of reforms in the judicial system.

Ogtai Gyulyaliev, the head of the public alliance "Azerbaijan without Political Prisoners", treats the situation with human rights in the country as critical.

According to Rasul Djafarov, the head of the Human Rights Club, the authorities' policy is worsening the country's image in the eyes of the world democratic community.

"As a result, Azerbaijan faced a threat of sanctions from the Council of Europe," he told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Earlier, on December 5, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe opened proceedings against Azerbaijan in connection with the country's failure to comply with the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on the case of the opposition leader Ilgar Mamedov.

Meanwhile, Faradj Guliev, an Azerbaijani MP and the head of the "National Revival Movement" believes that human rights are respected in Azerbaijan.

In his view, the main problem for the country is the violation of the rights of a million people who were expelled from their homes because of the Karabakh conflict.

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