National Council calls for sanctions against human rights violators in Azerbaijan

Baku/21.09.20/Turan: A positive solution to the issue of Tofik Yagublu cannot be considered as the government's humanism, since  he was arrested under a far-fetched pretext, and secondly, his 17-day hunger strike was officially ignored, reads the statement of the National Council of Democratic Forces of Azerbaijan.

The cancellation of the decision to arrest Tofig Yagublu was primarily the result of his own determined struggle and unshakable will. “In addition, this decision was influenced by a strong campaign by the Azerbaijani public and the international community. In any case, the National Council considers the partial release of Tofig Yagublu a positive event,” the statement said. However, the National Council notes that justice has not yet been restored against Tofig Yagublu.

“Yagublu is innocent; he was sentenced to imprisonment on completely false charges and must be acquitted. The Azerbaijani people and the international community are waiting for the appellate court to acquit Tofig Yagublu. Otherwise, keeping the verdict will be seen as the government's unwillingness to correct its mistake and will cause additional anger and hatred towards the authorities.”

Partially, Yagublu's release does not remove the problem of political arrests in Azerbaijan. There are still about 200 political prisoners in the country, and additional efforts are needed to release them.

In particular, during the latest wave of repression, which began with the arrest of Tofig Yagublu in March, another 36 people, mainly members of the Popular Front Party, were arrested on trumped-up charges (for the Karabakh march on July 14-15), and their trials will soon begin , the document says.

The National Council expects the international community to exert serious pressure on the government of Ilham Aliyev, including targeted sanctions, to end the deplorable human rights situation in Azerbaijan, the document says. -03D-