Rights defenders count 126 political prisoners in Azerbaijan

The Union "For Freedom of Azerbaijani Political Prisoners" has included 126 people into the list of activists persecuted by authorities. The list has grown four-fold within two months.

As before, the compilers of the list – Leyla Yunus, the director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD), and Elshan Gasanov, the head of the Centre for Monitoring Political Prisoners, – proceeded from the criteria for the notion of "political prisoner" established by the PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe).

Mr Gasanov has pointed to the cases of two activists arrested on charges of drug dealing – Djafar Mirzoev, a member of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), and Pyunkhan Kerimli, a member of the political emigrant organization "Choose Democratic Azerbaijan" operating in Germany.

Ali Aliev, the head of the "Citizens and Development" Party, became a new political prisoner. "The oppositional politician was arrested for his statements in an interview. He is not even a political prisoner, but a prisoner of conscience," Elshan Gasanov has noted.

Shakhin Gadjiev, a PFPA activist, was recognized as another political prisoner. "He was arrested on charges of drug dealing, but it is questionable. He is an intelligent person, a chess coach," Mr Gasanov has added.

Leyla Yunus, the IPD director, has noted that "repressions have not stopped in Azerbaijan for 30 years." In her opinion, authorities use repressions to intimidate the society and ensure the stability of their regime.