Human rights organizations condemn the crackdown on activists

Baku/15.07.22/Turan: Two human rights organizations issued a statement demanding an end to contract arrests and the release of political prisoners. The NGO Propaganda of Human Rights and Laws and the Center for Investigation of Torture condemned the “illegal and ordered arrest” of a public activist, host of the KIM TV YouTube channel, Abid Gafarov.  In a joint statement, they pointed to the political motives for persecuting Gafarov for making public the facts of torture against the defendants in the "Terter case."

Human rights structures also called on the authorities to respect the rights of citizens to freedom of speech and political activity.

On July 13, Abid Gafarov, a blogger and the head of the "Baku Unity" public organization, was sentenced to a year in prison on the complaint of a group of veterans of the Karabakh war. The court found him guilty under  the Articles 147 (libel) and 148 (insult) of the Criminal Code.

The plaintiffs considered it an insult to Gafarov's call to veterans not to be "submissive" and to resist arbitrariness.

Human rights activists believe that Gafarov's arrest is "a continuation of the campaign of arrests and punishments" against critics of the violations in the "Terter case", and in particular the torture of accused and suspects. --03В06--