Civil society activists urged the OSCE PA to affect Baku

On February 13, the OSCE PA winter session opened in Vienna, where more than 50 civil society activists of Azerbaijan appealed to members of the Assembly to discuss the human rights situation in the country.

They hoped that the annual meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Baku on June 28 will make a positive contribution to solving the problems of human rights in Azerbaijan.

The authors therefore suggest treatment for the violation of fundamental freedoms in Azerbaijan - freedom of speech, assembly, association, and arrests made on trumped-up charges of persons who express critical opinions, including journalists, bloggers, human rights activists, youth activists and politicians.

The most striking examples of such arrests are the politically motivated cases against human rights activist Anar Mammadov, the head of the movement Republican Alternative (ReAl) Ilgar Mamedov, the adviser to the head of the party Musavat Yadigar Sadigov, the seven activists of NIDA, the journalists Hilal Mamedov and Tofig Yagublu and the theologian Thale Bagirov.

In addition, to the examples cited above is the ban introduced in 2007 on the freedom of assembly in the center of Baku and regions. Inconsistent or spontaneous actions were severely suppressed by the police, and their members can be punishable by fines, the dimensions of which have been disproportionately increased by the amendments made to the law in early 2013, and with regard to arrests, the terms have also increased from 15 days to 2 months.

In addition, in recent years, is mentioned the deteriorated NGO legislation. In December 2013, Parliament approved amendments creating serious obstacles for local and foreign NGOs. Now, for minor technical errors, NGOs may be subject to large fines. In addition, the Ministry of Justice and other government structures are entitled to interfere with the daily activities of NGOs, and fine those unregistered.

One of the fundamental freedoms to which the Azerbaijani authorities are intolerant is the right to have free elections. In the last 5 years, the electoral law has steadily worsened.

Along with the abolition, in 2009, of restrictions on the election of the President for more than 2 consecutive terms, the electoral law was made many reactionary amendments that restrict fair elections.

Despite the fact that the election on October 9, 2013, Ilham Aliyev was declared president for a third term, many local and international organizations stated that there were not sufficient conditions for holding free and fair elections.

After the election campaign began the persecution of the Election Monitoring Center and learning democracy, who gave a critical opinion on the results of the elections. Criminal proceedings were instituted against the Center, and its head, Anar Mammadli, was arrested.

Unjustified criticism of the authorities was subjected to the observation mission of the OSCE ODIHR.

In conclusion, there is an appeal to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in accordance with the international commitments of Azerbaijan in the field of human rights. The appeal encourages the authorities, in anticipation of Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (May 2014) and the annual meeting in Baku of the OSCE PA, to immediately release those arrested on trumped up charges, ensure freedom of speech, assembly, expression, association, and provide the conditions for free and fair elections.

A large group of the civil society in Azerbaijan signed the appeal. -06D-