New charges against Bakhtiyar Hajiyev are because of receiving grants from the European Foundation - IRFS

Baku/20.06.23/Turan: "The Institute of Reporters Freedom and Safety condemns the Azerbaijani authorities for making new illegal and politically motivated accusations against the well-known Azerbaijani human rights and public activist head of the Institute of Public Policy Bakhtiyar Hajiyev and calls on the country's leadership to release him immediately,"  the statement of the IRFS, distributed on June 20.

The nomination of new charges against Hajiyev, who has been held in custody on trumped-up charges of hooliganism since December 9, 2022, related to receiving grants from the European Endowment for Democracy (EED) once again proves the political motives of persecution by the ruling authoritarian regime, the document says.

The law enforcement agencies of Azerbaijan regarded the receipt of grants from Western donors for the implementation of public projects as illegal entrepreneurship, money laundering and smuggling and put forward politically motivated charges on which the human rights defender could face more than 10 years in prison, the statement of the IRFS emphasizes.

"The new charges against Hajiyev are a serious signal of another round of increased repression against the remnants of civil society and independent voices in Azerbaijan," said Emin Huseynov, Executive Director of the IRFS.

European institutions such as the European Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament should immediately send a strong appeal to the Azerbaijani authorities about the unacceptability of political accusations against Hajiyev and demand his immediate release.

If the authorities do not stop the persecution of Hajiyev, the regime's next targets in the coming months will be other human rights defenders and activists who carried out their activities in Azerbaijan with the support of the European Endowment for Democracy and other Western donors, the ISDB statement further states.

The Institute also calls on the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Maria Pejcinovic Burici and the Commissioner of the Council of Europe for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic to demand that the Azerbaijani authorities stop the criminal prosecution of Hajiyev and his immediate release.

The IRFS recalls that Hajiyev was previously persecuted for his human rights and public activities – arrests, kidnappings, torture. ---06---