Center for Monitoring Political Prisoners Condemns Arrests of Oppositionists

Baku / 16.04.18 / Turan: The election campaign for the extraordinary presidential elections in Azerbaijan was held in an atmosphere of restriction of freedom of assembly.

Despite the fact that during the campaign and after the elections, the authorities allowed three rallies of the opposition, activists were pressured to discourage their participation in the rallies. This is stated by the Center for Monitoring Political Prisoners.

Before each of these rallies, dozens of activists from the Popular Front and Musavat parties were summoned to the police, where they were threatened and demanded to refuse to participate in the rallies. At the same time, up to 20 activists were arrested in administrative order for a period of 15 to 30 days.

After the rally on March 31, a civil activist Fatima Movlanly was detained. Her fate was not clear for five days. She later claimed that she was abducted and kept for five days in the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and they tried to make her give testimony against the Popular Front leaders.

The Center for Monitoring Political Prisoners assessed these facts as violation of Article 11 (right to freedom of assembly and association) of the European Convention on Human Rights by the authorities.

The human rights organization also demanded the investigation of arbitrariness against Movlanly and the punishment of the guilty of the detention and putting pressure on the activist, as well as compensation for the moral damage inflicted on her.

It also called for the release of activists arrested on the eve of the rallies.

* The Center for Monitoring Political Prisoners was founded in October 2014 by a group of former "prisoners of conscience". The organization is headed by the human rights activist Elshan Hasanov. -06D-