Violations of human rights in Azerbaijan were criticized at UN hearings

The situation in Azerbaijan was discussed in Geneva at the session of the UN Human Rights Council on March 7. The event was addressed by the UN special rapporteur on the situation with human rights defenders Michel Forst; UN special rapporteur on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, Mina Kai; Youth activist from Azerbaijan Najmin Kamil; Human rights activist Emin Huseynov; Journalist Khadija Ismayilova (on Skype), as well as the representative of Azerbaijan in the UN mission Vagif Sadikhov.

Forst said that in September of this year  in Azerbaijan and noted the deterioration of the situation with fundamental freedoms, the country's slide into authoritarianism. In this case, Forst said that he himself was attacked by the government because of his conclusions.

Representatives of the civil society of Azerbaijan spoke about the deterioration of the situation with human rights, the persecution of citizens for political reasons, the growth of the number of political prisoners, the number of which exceeded 150, Turan wastold by Najmin Kami.

Attention was also focused on the last case of the arrest in Azerbaijan of the head of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (ISRB), blogger Mehman Huseynov.

Vagif Sadikhov tried to refute criticism, calling the information on the facts of torture "fairy tales."

In turn, representatives of civil society called upon UN agencies to increase their attention to human rights problems in Azerbaijan. -16D--