Azerbaijan, Like Other Countries of Former USSR, Carries out Repressions under Cover of Pandemic - Amnesty International

Baku / 29.04.20 / Turan: Governments of Eastern Europe and Central Asia respond to the corona virus pandemic with violence that runs counter to their human rights obligations. This is stated in the report of Amnesty International, released on April 28.

“As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds in the region, many governments are more interested in suppressing dissent than protecting public health,” said Heza McGill, Amnesty International's Central Asia spokeswoman.

“The Kazakh authorities are brewing doors in the entrances of apartment buildings to block their residents, and police in Chechnya are beating up people who do not have protective masks.

Regional governments see the pandemic as carte blanche for the suppression of human rights.

Any harsh measures to prevent the virus should be time-limited, proportionate and consistent with human rights standards,” she said.

The report describes the facts of violations of the rights of not only ordinary citizens, but also of journalists and human rights activists in order to prevent the dissemination of information.

“The governments of Azerbaijan and Russia held accountable social network users, journalists and medical workers, who openly pointed out the authorities' mistakes in taking measures against the pandemic.

In Azerbaijan, authorities used the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to suppress the opposition. On March 19, President Ilham Aliyev announced “new rules” for the duration of the pandemic, including “isolation” and “purging” of the opposition.

After that, opposition activist Tofig Yagublu was detained on trumped-up charges of hooliganism, and human rights activist Elchin Mammad was detained on charges of theft, the report said.

* Full report on this link. -02D-