Baku/20.08.19/Turan: The Institute for Democratic Initiatives investigated the state of freedom of assembly from September 1, 2016 to May 1, 2019. The authors of the study analyzed the facts of interference in freedom of assembly based on media reports, social networks, and data from political parties and authorities.
The facts of government interventions in actions, including those in enclosed spaces of a political, social, professional and family nature, were recorded. Most of all interventions occurred in actions with political demands.
Meeting participants were often held administratively liable. At the same time, the authorities evade the implementation of the recommendations of international organizations on this issue.
In particular, international structures proposed to remove from the law the right of the police to suppress any meetings held without prior notice, with the exception of random meetings.
According to the results of the study, the authors made the following recommendations:
The administrative and criminal responsibility for participating in nonviolent assemblies should be eliminated, even if they are not agreed upon.
Along with this, it is proposed to clarify in legislation the basics of police interventions. Freedom of assembly is a fundamental right and no less important than other rights.
You should also abandon the practice of calling citizens to the police for participating in meetings and sending letters to their places of work and study, stop the practice of administrative arrests for not reporting to the police.
Police officers should not impede the activities of journalists, taking photos and videos, and not take away equipment from them, the study said.
The official Baku rejects criticism of restricting freedom of assembly.
* The NGO Institute of Democratic Initiatives (IDN) was established on November 5, 2013 by a group of lawyers and public activists with the aim of promoting the formation of an open society in Azerbaijan through democratic initiatives. IDF is headed by a former member of the country's Central Election Commission, Akif Gurbanov. He was the only CEC member who did not sign the final protocol on the presidential election on October 13, 2013, due to numerous violations .-- 03B-
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