Leyla Yunus will tell Europe about violation of human rights in Azerbaijan

Such kind of protection, as a campaign on the Internet is poorly developed in Azerbaijan. “We  are a little behind, because we work as in the old times, while in the 21st century Internet is used  at full capacity. Social networks are very often conduct a campaign to collect signatures in support of those whose rights are violated. I would like to draw the attention of Azerbaijani human rights activists to this way of working,” said Leyla Yunus,  the director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy on  Wednesday at a news conference. 

She called on to attract AWID (Association for Women's Rights ") to protect the rights of Nigar Yagublu, the arrested activists of  "Musavat".

Cooperation with this organization and  the use of  its  opportunities can help Azerbaijani human rights activists, especially in the light of political repression against human rights defenders themselves, Yunus said.

In Azerbaijan, during independence, human rights activists have never been persecuted, or imprisoned. Currently, she said, there  are four defenders under arrest: Vidadi Iskenderli, Taleh Khasmamedov, Hilal Mammadov  and Ilham Amiraslanov. They all are regional human rights activists. International campaign in their defense  in  social networks will cover many countries and will be more effective, says Yunus.

She also reported that the  meeting of "Political Forum in Development", will take pace on October 17-19; it is held  once  two years. "I was elected to represent at the forum  six post-Soviet republics (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova), and the  countries  of the Arab world.

I have prepared a report on the situation of human rights in Azerbaijan, and I want to obtain the adoption of  another resolution on Azerbaijan by the European Parliament. In this regard,

members of European parliament will send requests to the European Commissioner for Foreign and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton,  so that she brings up  relevant questions to the leadership of Azerbaijan," says Yunus.

"We have three categories of political prisoners: the opposition, Islamists and members of ethnic minorities, as well as hostages, that is, the relatives of the opposition members," she  said.

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