National Council: Cause of repression - problem of political prisoners

The National Council of Democratic Forces made ​​a statement in connection with the continued repression of the Azerbaijani authorities against their own people, in particular, against the socio-political activists, NGOs, and entities involved in the protection of human rights.

"During the last week there was not a day without the arrest of known political figures on false charges. The regime has launched the rules of 1937 and has mobilized terror against the arrested Leyla Yunus and her husband, known conflict expert Arif Yunus, the head of Human Rights Club Rasul Jafarov, and then the lawyer Intigam Aliyev. It is now preparing the arrest of the head of the IRFS Emin Huseynov, and it has just closed his NGO.

Most of the repressed activists addressed the issue of political prisoners and they were producing a single list of political prisoners.

The reason for these arrests is to prevent the spread of a complete list of political prisoners in Azerbaijan and "prove" the absence of those in Azerbaijan, the statement reads.

The National Council recalls that in the single list there are the names of 97 political prisoners, which was signed by 12 human rights organizations, NGOs, and independent lawyers. The human rights defenders arrested recently told international conferences about the current issue of political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

The National Council believes that the arrest of all the above-mentioned persons is a political order, and it calls on the authorities to put an end to the repression and to immediately release all the political prisoners. -04D-