Baku/25.01.19/Turan: Maria Dahle, Director of HRHF, responds to the December 2018 criminal charges against Mehman Huseynov being dropped.
"While it is a positive development that Mehman Huseynov no longer faces a new criminal case, he has already been deprived of his freedom for two years on politically motivated charges.
When he is released, by latest 2 March 2019, he will continue to live with the effects of the repression that has escalated against him for many years.
To the authorities, we ask that they ensure Mehman Huseynov"s safety in Azerbaijan and end the campaign of repression against him. We ask that they fully reinstate his rights and rehabilitate him, and lift the travel ban he has faced since 2012 and return his identification and official documentation seized in 2013.
The lawyers working to uphold his rights should also be protected, able to carry out their professional functions without sanctions or threat of disbarment.
We must not forget other political prisoners in Azerbaijan.
We call for their release and for an end to the repressive system that targets journalists, human rights defenders, lawyers, bloggers, and activists. A free and fair democratic society does not have political prisoners."
* Blogger Mehman Huseynov was sentenced to two years in 2017 and was to be released in March 2019; but in December 2018, a new criminal case was brought against him for allegedly beating a colony employee. On January 22, under the pressure of local and international public, the case was discontinued. -0-
Politics
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Members of the National Preventive Group under the Ombudwosman of Azerbaijan visited journalists and activists in the Baku pre-trial detention center-1, the press service of the office of the Commissioner for Human Rights reports.
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Yesterday, Aliza Bin-Noun, Political Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem, held talks at the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry and the presidential administration. "I held fruitful interministerial consultations with Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Fariz Rzayev. Our strong bilateral relations have been thoroughly discussed in search of ways to further develop them.
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The International Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders has called for the release of Anar Mammadli and other political prisoners in Azerbaijan. The petition, signed by 30 civil society organizations belonging to the Observatory, calls on the Azerbaijani authorities to drop all charges against Anar Mammadli, stop the persecution of independent voices in the country and unconditionally release all political prisoners.
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On 8 May, the Khatai district court of Baku did not satisfy the petition to transfer well-known human rights defender in the field of elections Anar Mammadli under house arrest. This was reported to Turan by his lawyer Elmar Suleymanov.
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