Members of European parliament call on Catherine Ashton demand the end of political repression in Azerbaijan

Six members of the European Parliament sent a letter to the EU High Commissioner for Foreign and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton.

  The MPs welcomed the statement by Ashton on 26 June, where she called on the authorities to put an end to the persecution of citizens for political reasons.

   At the same time, deputies noted that after the "Eurovision" contest the Azerbaijani authorities have increased pressure on political opponents, and continue the practice of politically motivated arrests.

   As an example, they noted the criminal case against the photographer and journalist from the IRFS, Mehman Huseynov and the arrest of the editor of the newspaper "Tolishi Sado", Hilal Mammadov.

   The letter repeated that on June 26 the Committee of Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution which called on  Azerbaijani authorities to solve the problem of more than  80 political prisoners, and to stop these type of arrests in the future.

   "We ask you to call on the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately stop the practice of people being arrested for political motives, for expressing their opinions, and to provide the country's broader obligations as a member of the Council of Europe and part of the European neighborhood Policy framework," the message said. -02D-