On the eve of the visit of President of Azerbaijan in Brussels, the Human Rights Committee of the European Parliament organized a hearing on the human rights situation in Azerbaijan in a presidential election year.
As a speaker at the hearing was invited director of the Azerbaijan Institute of Peace and Democracy (IPD) Leyla Yunus.
She focused the audience's attention on human rights issues on the eve of the October presidential election.
In particular, Yunus pointed to a restriction of the freedom of assembly.
Thus, from November 2005 the executive of the capital has banned any actions - pickets and demonstrations in the city. Also banned are open-air meetings in the provinces. "In 2013, the year of the presidential election, the country's de facto state of emergency - a concern for the authorities NGOs and political parties are banned any meetings in enclosed spaces," said Yunus.
Civil society activists and opposition leaders are not allowed to move freely around the country, visiting the provinces. The police stopped their car and returned back to the capital, then Yunus said.
February 4 after visiting the northern province of Ismaily were arrested leader of the ReAl Ilgar Mammadov and deputy head of the Musavat party, journalist Tofig Yagublu. By now, he is charged with organizing and participating in mass disorder (article 220.1 of the Criminal Code to 12 years in prison)
In March-April on trumped up charges were arrested 10 youth activists, including seven members of the movement NIDA.
In an election year has increased the pressure on the freedom of speech, dissent.
Currently in custody are 7 journalists, five of which have already been convicted. Zeinally, editor of the newspaper Khural was sentenced March 12, 2013 to 9 years in prison.
"Particularly severe punishment awaits at the same time human rights activist and editor of the only newspaper in the Talysh in Azerbaijan, Tolyshi Sado, Hilal Mamedov. He is charged with spying for Iran, inciting ethnic hatred, of course drugs ... they can give 15 years, and may convict him for life," continued Yunus.
Restriction of freedom of speech, expression in the print media, not a new problem for Azerbaijan. Dissemination of criminal prosecution on the Internet will dramatically increase the number of people who will be put forward against charges of slander and insults.
The persecution of believers in Azerbaijan takes on the character of forced radicalization. IPD for 2002-2013 years monitors the trials of believers - Islamists. At present, the conclusion is 256 believers (members of the Islamic Party, the various religious communities), of which 79 persons have not committed absolutely no criminal offenses.
"I consider it necessary to say: the Aliyev regime uses the negative attitude of the U.S. towards Iran and anti-Islamic sentiment to justify mass arrests of ordinary believers on the most serious charges," said Yunus.
President Aliyev on June 7, 2013 at the speech at the congress of his party New Azerbaijan virtually predicted the nature of the campaign and accused the opposition. Ilham Aliyev said the following: the opposition - "these are anti-national forces, treacherous, corrupt factions that were once in power, and that even today without any reason are living the dream of power."
According to Yunus, the words by Aliyev will be a signal for increasing the scope of the repression and a call for the destruction of dissenters. "But the hardest thing for us is to begin after October 16, when, after a total falsification of the election results and mass arrests, they will begin trials of the detainees. As in Azerbaijan there is no independent judiciary, it should be expected issuance of long prison sentences for Ilgar Mamedov and Hilal Mamedov and journalists and youth activists and Islamists of course," said Yunus.
According to her, the report has aroused heated discussion, during which the offer sounded to abandon Azerbaijan as a strategic partner of the EU. -06D -
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