Youth organizations: there is no atmosphere of free elections in the country

Azerbaijan has no atmosphere of free and fair elections. This is due to a wave of repression launched by the authorities against the youth activists who participated in the protests earlier this year, reads a joint statement of the  Youth Committee of Popular Front Party, the youth organization of "Musavat", the civil movement NIDA,  Youth Department of Civil Solidarity Party, the Movement "Dalga", the Movement "Positive Changes",   Youth Club, the  Movement "Free Youth".

The statement authors point out that the government first began to apply administrative fines and arrests against participants in the protests, and then subjected to criminal prosecution on  concocted charges  the most active of them.

The statement authors consider them as political prisoners, and note that the elections in which they will remain in custody, can not be considered free and fair.

The authors of the statement also condemned the arrests of the leader of the "Real" Ilgar Mamedov, who announced his intention to run for president, the   deputy chairman and adviser to the party "Musavat", Tofig Yagublu, and Yadigar Sadygov. The authors of the statement also condemned the closure of  Free Thought University. 

The statement also condemned the spread of the videos  on intimate life of well-known journalists exposing corruption in high  echelons of power. 

The statement authors also note that they expect from the international organizations and embassies of the Western States a clear and principled position on human rights violations and their contribution to the development of democratic institutions in Azerbaijan.

"We call on the Azerbaijani authorities to stop the administrative detention of youth activists and pressure on them for political motives, the release of political prisoners, freedom of assembly and expression. At the same time, we call on all parties to conduct fair campaign within the moral standards," reads the document. -03D06-