The problem of political prisoners in Azerbaijan is still relevant

Baku/23.09.21/Turan: Relatives of recently arrested activists and journalists, as well as some observers, note a decrease in public interest and attention of international organizations to the problem of political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

Has the number of politically motivated repressions really reduced? Has the public interest and attention of international organizations to the problem of political prisoners declined? Has the problem of political prisoners in Azerbaijan lost its relevance?

Co-founder of the NGO "Line of Defense" Rufat Safarov answered these and other questions in the "Difficult Question" program.

According to Safarov, there no tendency towards a decrease in the number of political prisoners in Azerbaijan, but on the contrary, new arrests occur every year. Since 1993, when the YAP (New Azerbaijan Party) came to power in the country, there was not even a short period when there were no political prisoners, the human rights activist claims, and, in his opinion, there are objective reasons for this. This is primarily due to the political system.

“The presence of political prisoners is a sign of states in which human rights are violated, political rights of citizens are denied, freedom of speech, freedom of information and freedom of assembly are absent. Recently, even cultural freedom, the rights of citizens to freedom of creativity have begun to be violated in Azerbaijan,” he complains.

According to Safarov, today there are dozens of political prisoners in Azerbaijan. Custom-made, far-fetched criminal proceedings continue to be instituted against citizens, and there is no doubt that ultimately, convictions will be passed on these fabricated criminal cases.

“International organizations specializing in human rights, Western countries, European institutions, the European Union, the Council of Europe, the US Department of State have repeatedly made recommendations and calls to put an end to the existence of the problem of political prisoners. There are innumerable decisions of the European Court of Human Rights on the recognition of the rights of citizens, political activists, politicians who have been persecuted for political reasons in Azerbaijan, which confirms the presence of political prisoners in the country,” he said.

Addressing the country's leadership, Safarov said that although the country's Constitution reflects the norms of building a democratic, legal and secular state, as long as there is a problem of political prisoners in Azerbaijan, the already negative perception of Azerbaijan as a non-legal state will continue to grow. –0--