Strasbourg, 13.08.2015 - “I am shocked and outraged by the sentencing of Leyla and ArifYunus for eight-and-a-half and seven years of imprisonment, respectively,” said Anne Brasseur, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
“The Council of Europe has repeatedly urged the authorities to stop the unprecedented crackdown on civil society – including reprisals and judicial harassment of human rights defenders and independent media – and address human rights problems in the country,” she said.
“Despite these appeals, the situation has not improved. It has worsened. The people targeted, the type of charges, the length of sentences, obvious shortcomings in trials, all put in question the authorities’ willingness to respect the fundamental values of the Council of Europe. Today’s decision is further proof of serious and systemic human rights problems in Azerbaijan,” continued the President.
“In its June 2015 resolution on Azerbaijan, the Assembly called the authorities to ‘put an end to systemic repression of human rights defenders, the media and those critical of the government’, to ‘release all political prisoners’ and to ‘stop the reprisal of journalists and others who express critical opinions’. Today’s decision shows that these appeals have fallen on deaf ears in Baku. Therefore, I once again urge the authorities to take a step back and re-examine their approach to human rights, in line with the commitments they have made to the values and standards of the Council of Europe.”
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Secretary General Jagland will request from the Azerbaijani authorities the full details of the judgment and the evidence presented against the defendants. In view of the known systemic deficiencies in the Azerbaijani judicial system and the worrying trend of increasing cases against human rights defenders and journalists, which in turn has a chilling effect on freedom of expression in the country, he is of the opinion that the conviction should eventually be examined by the European Court of Human Rights.-0-
Politics
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Ilham Aliyev congratulated Irakli Kobakhidze on the victory of the Georgian Dream party in the elections and wished him continued success. "The victory of your party is of particular significance for the entire South Caucasus, making it a more stable region, and we rejoice in this victory as your friends and brothers. We wish your government new successes in its work," said Aliyev during a joint briefing following talks and the signing of bilateral documents.
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On January 17, the Khatai District Court of Baku rejected the requests for house arrest for journalists Aynur Elgünesh and Natig Djavadly, employees of Meydan TV, their lawyers, Elchin Sadigov and Zibeyda Sadigova reported to Turan news agency. According to the lawyers, there are no legal or procedural grounds for keeping the journalists in detention. The journalists themselves stated that the criminal case against them had been fabricated to punish them for their professional activities. The defense intends to appeal the court's refusal to transfer the journalists to house arrest.
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Journalist Farid Ismayilov, who had been under police supervision in connection with the Toplum TV case, was detained on January 17 and brought to the Khatai District Court, his colleagues reported.
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The preliminary investigation in the case of the Toplum TV publication (journalists and activists) is coming to an end, reported Rasul Jafarov, the lawyer of the Institute for Democratic Initiatives, Ruslan Izzatli.
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