"We are elated to see Mehman Huseynov released, walking freely as he is greeted warmly by friends, family, media and civil society; we look forward to being with him. As a journalist and human rights defender, Mehman Huseynov works to improve the society he lives in. His work is legitimate and important, and he should never have been imprisoned or faced threats and pressure for this.
To the authorities, we ask that his release marks not only an end to his imprisonment, but an end to the years of repression he has faced. We ask that they fully reinstate his rights and rehabilitate him, and lift the travel ban he has faced since 2012. We welcome indications that his identification and official documentation seized in 2013 have been returned.
We will find out fully in time whether the pressure against him has stopped and he has been treated respectfully since the new charges against him were dropped on 22 January. We also ask the Azerbaijani authorities to ensure the lawyers working to uphold Mehman Huseynov"s rights and those in other perceived politically sensitive cases are protected and able to carry out their professional functions without sanctions or threat of disbarment.
Many others remain in prison in Azerbaijan, targeted for exercising their rights to expression, association, and assembly. We urge the Azerbaijani authorities to release them and to end the targeting of journalists, human rights defenders, lawyers, bloggers, and activists. We say again, a free and fair democratic society does not have political prisoners."
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In Ukraine, a brutal, bloody war caused by Russian aggression continues, claiming lives, destroying homes, demolishing infrastructure, and inflicting incalculable harm on the environment and surrounding natural ecosystems. Ukraine, more than anyone else in this world, strives for peace, as we bear the daily brutality of this Russian-Ukrainian war. We are at the forefront of the struggle for the right to life, freedom, and justice. Ukraine seeks a just peace that will lay a solid foundation for a stable future for Europe and the World, and the only way of achieving this is to implement President Volodymyr Zelensky's Peace Formula (the Ukrainian Peace Formula).
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On the eve of a large-scale flood approaching Baku, a disturbing incident occurred in the village of Buzovna, where a Lada Priora car fell into the ground, literally collapsing the road beneath it. The driver miraculously remained unharmed but vowed to seek justice, promising to file an official complaint with the prosecutor’s office against Azersu OJSC, the state-owned water supply and sewerage company, often associated with deeply rooted corruption.
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In a bit of historic irony, powerful oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili has managed to inspire rare unity across Georgia’s cacophonous political scene twice in his life. His money and influence forged the broad-based consolidation of opposition forces that brought him to power in 2012, and now, 12 years and three electoral cycles later, a similar pattern of opposition convergence could send him packing.
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Russian authorities and pro-Kremlin influencers have been spreading false information about alleged Reporters Without Borders (RSF) research into Nazi tendencies within the Ukrainian military, which was featured in a viral video falsely attributed to the BBC. RSF exposes the inner workings of a disinformation campaign designed to justify President Vladimir Putin's war narrative.
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