Union for the freedom of political prisoners of Azerbaijan announced its goals

Baku / 14.11.18 / Turan: On Wednesday, the presentation of a new human rights organization, the Union for the Freedom of Political Prisoners of Azerbaijan (AUFA), was held at the office of the Union of Intellectuals of Azerbaijan (CIA).

Its founders are Leyla Yunus (director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy), Hilal Mamedov (chief editor of the Tolyshi Sado newspaper), Elshan Hasanov, the Head of the Center for Monitoring Political Prisoners and Eldaniz Guliyev (Chairman of the Union of Intellectuals of Azerbaijan). By creating a new structure, the above-mentioned persons simultaneously left the Center for the Protection of Political Prisoners (CPPP). Eldaniz Guliyev explained that the new structure, unlike the Center to Protect the Rights of Political Prisoners, will deal exclusively with political prisoners. So, the reason for the divergence of views with the CPPP was the report "The European Case" - about people who left Azerbaijan due to political persecution.

"We were against the preparation of such a report, because there was an unhealthy rush. It is not our task to determine who is a political emigrant. We are engaged in human rights activities and the rights of those who were arrested for political reasons. Therefore, we decided to create a new organization that will exclusively be engaged in the compilation of lists and the protection of individuals who have political motives in their affairs," Guliyev said. According to him, the CPPP will be guided exclusively by the criteria of the PACE.

Leyla Yunus could not connect to the event via Skype because of the participation in the presentation of her book "From the Soviet Camp to the Azerbaijani Prison" in Austria. Elshan Hasanov said that currently the number of political prisoners in the country is 150 people. Cases of several more arrested are being studied.

One of the main tasks of the Union, he called informing the international community about the repression in Azerbaijan, about the situation with political prisoners, the preparation of complete data on each of them, Hasanov said. "Under the conditions when the authorities do not listen to civil society, we are forced to appeal to the international community," he said. Hilal Mamedov pointed to the continuing deterioration of the human rights situation. According to him, Azerbaijan is among the leaders on this indicator in Europe. "There are 150 political prisoners in Azerbaijan, while there are only two in Belarus. Per capita Azerbaijan is ahead of Russia, where there are 195 political prisoners of 147 million people," said Mamedov. -06D--