IRFS urges Paris to bring up human rights issue with I.Aliyev

Baku/19.07.18/Turan: The Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS) appealed to President Francois Macron and the Parliament of this country on the eve of the visit of the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to Paris.

"On the eve of the official visit of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, we ask you to raise problems during your meetings with freedom of speech in Azerbaijan and also call upon Ilham Aliyev to release all his critics from prisons," the message says.

France is actively expanding economic cooperation with Azerbaijan, the leading French oil and gas, aviation construction and telecommunications, as well as enterprises of the military-industrial complex are actively implementing large-scale million-dollar contracts with Azerbaijan. In the light of this cooperation and the leading role of France in the promotion of European values, we urge you to pay more attention to resolving serious problems in the field of human rights of democracy, the rule of law and the fight against corruption in Azerbaijan, "the message reads.

"The European Union, the European Parliament and the Council of Europe and the OSCE have repeatedly called on the Azerbaijani authorities to put an end to the persecution of critics and opponents of the authorities. The journalists known to the international community who investigated corruption as Afghan Mukhtarly and Mehman Huseynov, despite numerous appeals for release, still remain in prisons. The authorities refuse to effectively investigate the murders of journalists and other crimes related to violence against members of the media," the statement said. The opposition politician Ilgar Mammadov, despite the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights, is still behind bars.

Today, the rule of law is experiencing a complete decline in values, the courts are completely under the control of the authorities and the institution of an independent legal profession has practically been destroyed, in a country with 10 million people there are fewer than 10 truly independent lawyers, which is essentially a disaster of legal protection.

The loss of hope for justice and democratic changes leads to an increase in social tension, which can lead at any time to serious spikes in violence and destabilization in the country in the region. "Last week, the Azerbaijani authorities launched a new wave of repression against freedom of speech. Thus, during the coverage of protest actions on July 10, over 10 representatives of online media covering this event were detained and tortured in the city of Ganja.

The authors of the appeal ask the president and the French parliament "to use France's authoritative international position and during meetings with the leadership of Azerbaijan to call upon him to release all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience from prisons, stop the practice of bribing European politicians with the aim of closing eyes to widespread violations of human rights and democracy in Azerbaijan". The appeal was signed by Executive Director of IRFS, Emin Huseynov. -06D-