U.S. Says Continues To Press For Release Of Political Prisoners In Azerbaijan

The United States said Wednesday it continued to press on Azerbaijan to release political prisoners in the country, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

"Our advocacy for human rights issues is not connected to any one conference.. It’s something that happens on a daily basis here; started before COP, and it’ll continue after COP," State Department's spokesperson Matthew Miller told a daily briefing when asked by TURAN whether the annual climate summit, which is nearing to its en, has been a "missed opportunity" to secure the release of political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

Specifically, TURAN highlighted the case of RFE/RL journalist Farid Merhalizade, who recently marked five months since he was detained in Baku for “conspiring to smuggle foreign currency”, charges he and his employer rejects. This Friday, when COP29 is officially scheduled to close, Merhalizade will be spending his 30th birthday in a Baku prison, separated from his wife and their newborn daughter.

"We have made clear to the Government of Azerbaijan that they need to respect the rights of journalists to go about their – to conduct their jobs," Miller said.

On June 1, a Baku court placed Mehralizada under pretrial detention in connection with a case brought against the independent media outlet Abzas Media. A month after, authorities brought new charges against the journalist, accusing him of “illegal entrepreneurship, money laundering, tax evasion and document forgery.” He faces up to 12 years behind bars for all the charges against him. Last month, RFE/RL issued a statement calling for his release.

During Wednesday's briefing, TURAN also asked Miller about Dr. Gubad Ibadoghlu, a well-known academic and anti-corruption expert, who was arrested during a trip home last summer on what human rights organizations say were politically motivated charges.

Early this month, a bipartisan group of almost three dozen senior U.S. lawmakers wrote a letter to the Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the president’s senior climate adviser, John Podesta, to continue direct engagement with the Azerbaijani government to encourage them to release Dr. Ibadoghlu ahead of the annual UN climate conference.

"We will respond to the members with a letter, not publicly," Miller said.

The Azerbaijani government rejects international organizations' criticism of human rights violations,  and says the government holds no political prisoners.

In the meantime, for the first time since the early 2000s the number of arrested journalists, environmental activists and political opponents has reached more than 300 in the country, according to The Union "For Freedom of Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan”, an independent watchdog.