News: PWYP condemns beating of Ilgar Mammadov in Azerbaijan
Publish What You Pay strongly condemns the beating and inhumane treatment of Ilgar Mammadov, member of the Advisory Council of the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI). Mr Mammadov, who remains unlawfully imprisoned following a decision by the European Court of Human Rights, was allegedly beaten by high-level staff in the penitentiary facility on October 16, following a series of intimidations and threats.
The unacceptable violent treatment of Mr Mammadov is part of a wider context of a complete crackdown on dissenting voices in Azerbaijan by the government. Whether engaged in politics, media or civil society, journalists and activists continue to face restrictions, harsh treatment, criminal prosecutions and prison sentences, which are completely at odds with the spirit and principles of the Open Government Partnership and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in which Azerbaijan participates.
In April 2015, the EITI board made the decision to demote the country from ‘compliant’ to ‘candidate’, giving Azerbaijan until April 2016 to put in place a set of corrective actions as decided by the EITI Board. But despite a recent high level visit by the EITI Chair to the president of Azerbaijan the general crackdown on civil society has continued, including recent developments such as the case of Mammadov and the court sentence of famous anti-corruption investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova earlier this year. We urgently request the Government of Azerbaijan to immediately release Ilgar Mammadov as well as Khadija Ismayilova, and remind them to ensure that they meet the EITI Board’s recommendations by April 2016 if they want to continue to be part of the EITI.
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- Politics
- 28 October 2015 17:41
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- Want to say
- 28 October 2015 18:37
Politics
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On 26 July "Platform III of the Republic" made a statement which drew attention to the unlawful seizure of electronic devices of underage children of the arrested head of this structure Akif Gurbanov.
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From 19 to 26 July, 24 automatic rifles, 1 machine gun, 9 rifles, 28 grenades, 441 shells, 3118 cartridges of different calibre and other ammunition were found in Khankendi, the Azerbaijani Interior Ministry reported. During the mentioned period, the police found 1 machine gun, 50 grenades, 7 fuses, 3 shells and 320 cartridges of different calibre in Shusha.
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President Ilham Aliyev has approved by decree the Azerbaijan-Kazakh intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in military intelligence defense sector. The document was signed in Baku on 7 June 2024.
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At the trial of the opposition politician Tofig Yagublu, the statement of Elnur Vaqifoglu, another accused, was heard at the Baku Serious Crimes Court.
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