NCDF Calls on Democratic World to Impose Sanctions against Azerbaijani Authorities

Baku /11.06.20 / Turan: The National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF) addressed the peoples and governments of the world in connection with the "lawlessness of the police in Azerbaijan."

As noted in the document, while the whole world was facing a coronavirus pandemic, the ruling regime of Azerbaijan launched a “police baton against its people,” and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, state security, the prosecutor general’s office, and the courts turned into a tool to suppress citizens.

Further, the appeal refers to a special operation on June 8 by the Ministry of Internal Affairs against residents of the Yeni Yasamal massif, who expressed dissatisfaction with the actions of police officers, using harsh force to detain a citizen who went outside under the conditions of a special quarantine regime.

The forces of the Rapid Response Regiment carried out a special operation with particular cruelty, invading the apartments of citizens early in the morning, detaining them with brute force, and some were not even allowed to dress.

The detainees, as one of them, Karim Suleymanli after release, said, was subjected to severe torture.

The NCDF believes that the special operation was carried out by order of the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the personal instruction of the head of state.

At the same time, official propaganda launched a campaign in the media and social networks to justify the actions of the police.

The police violated Art. 3 (prohibition of torture) and 8 (respect for privacy) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The NCDF called on Western authorities to impose visa sanctions on the Interior Minister, his deputies and other officials involved in police violence against citizens.

The authors of the statement, pointing to the export of property criminally acquired by the corrupt regime abroad, called on Western states to impose sanctions against officials sanctioning torture of citizens of their country.

“We call on the democratic world, the official bodies of these states, and their embassies in Baku not to let Azerbaijani officials involved in dirty cases into their countries, not to issue visas to those who use force against civilians, police officers torturing people, prosecutors defending falsified charges, judges who turn the courts into punitive bodies, and officials of the presidential administration who sanction unlawful actions, and not to shake their hands stained in the blood of their people,” the NCDF appeal concluded.   —06D-