Opposition announces new wave of political repressions in Azerbaijan

Pardoning a number of political prisoners was a small concession to Western demands for respect for human rights in Azerbaijan, but a new wave of political repression has begun in the country, and European institutions should intervene, the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF) states.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on May 30, a court in Ganja arrested Razi Alyshov, a member of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), on suspicion of drug trafficking.

According to the NCDF’s statement, “the Azerbaijani law enforcement bodies often arrest opposition activists on charges of drug possession.”

On May 27, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev ordered to pardon 213 people, including more than 20 people from the list of political prisoners. Human rights defenders considered the president’s decision “half-hearted,” since only a small part of political prisoners was pardoned.

In recent months, PFPA member Shakhin Gadjiev, member of the “Muslim Unity” Razi Gumbatov, blogger Rashad Ramazanov, and activists exiled from Germany, including Mutallim Orudjev, Djafar Mirzoev, Pyunkhan Kerimli, Malik Rzaev, and Samir Ashurov, have been “arrested for political reasons,” the NCDF notes in its statement.

According to the head of the NCDF, amid the repressions, some political prisoners who have already served most of their sentences are pardoned once a year, and every time, regime lobbyists begin to say that Ilham Aliev has started reforms.

Authors of the NCDF’s statement believe that the “democratic world” should stop turning a blind eye to the repressions in Azerbaijan.