Union in support of political prisoners established in Azerbaijan

Human rights defenders, namely, the editor-in-chief editor of the newspaper "Tolyshi Sado" and the head of the Union of Azerbaijani Intellectuals have announced the creation of the organization "For the Freedom of Political Prisoners of Azerbaijan".

The organization was established by Leyla Yunus, Director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD); Elshan Gasanov, the head of the Centre for Monitoring Political Prisoners; Gilal Mamedov, the editor-in-chief of the "Tolyshi Sado"; and Eldaniz Guliev, Chairman of the Union of Azerbaijani Intellectuals.

"We decided to create a union with the participation of not only human rights defenders, but also media professionals, and creative and scientific intellectuals. This will increase the public attention to problems of political prisoners," Elshan Gasanov, himself a prisoner of conscience in the past, has stated.

"The country has no conditions for the work of civil society institutions and NGOs; all independent media have been liquidated. The number of political prisoners is on the rise," the organization has stated.

It is also noted that Azerbaijan leads in the number of political prisoners among the countries of the former USSR. "There are 150 political prisoners in Azerbaijan; while Belarus has only two," said Gasanov.

"We've ourselves experienced the life of political prisoners, and we can't be indifferent to the fate of imprisoned journalists, activists and bloggers," said Gilal Mamedov, another co-founder of the new organization.