22:37, 12 January 2007

"Human Rights Watch" scarified Azerbaijan again for breaching human rights

The international "Human Rights Watch" organization has accused Azerbaijani authorities of voluntary arrests and beating of opposition activists and of using tortures against them. A document of 55 pages made public on Thursday, January 11, in New-York runs that as of the moment of drawing up the present report dozens of government servants, opposition politicians and other persons, arrested in November 2005 on the case of a coup d'etat attempt, have remained in preliminary detention awaiting the trial; only a few of them were convicted. The problems of tortures by the police, custody conditions and politically-motivated arrests remain unsettled. The situation with media freedom has aggravated: violence and arrests were applied to journalists; numerous cases on defence of honour and dignity were initiated by officials. Many subjects of international community have openly criticised the government of Azerbaijan for unsatisfactory human rights situation.

Author: Zaur Rasulzade, CK correspondent