Tuesday, January 16 2024 20:58

ArmInfo.The Azerbaijani Exiled Civic Coalition (AZEX), represented by the Institute for Human Rights (IHR) and the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS), condemns the Azerbaijani authorities for unleashing a new wave of repression against journalists, human rights defenders and opposition activists ahead of Azerbaijan's snap presidential election and call on the current head of state, Ilham Aliyev, to immediately release all of his critics, as well as to ensure all fundamental freedoms in the country that are essential for holding free and fair  elections, he coalition's joint statement received by ArmInfo reads. 

"IHR and IRFS are particularly concerned about the brutality of the  Azerbaijani authorities' pre-election crackdown on freedom of  expression, which has resulted in the imprisonment of journalists  Ulvi Hasanli, Mahammad Kekalov, Sevinj Vagifgizi, Nargiz Absalamova,  Hafiz Babaly, Elnara Gasimova, Teymur Kerimov, Shamo Eminov, Aziz  Orujev, Arshad Ibrahimova, Ibrahim Humbatov, Gabil Veliyev and Shahin  Rzayev.

"Despite the fact that almost all recently detained journalists are  accused of absurd charges of receiving illegal funding from abroad,  the real reason for their prosecution is the implementation of  high-profile journalistic anti- corruption investigations and daily  publications revealing systematic and massive violations of  socio-economic and political rights of Azerbaijani citizens", said  AZEX co-chairman Emin Huseynov. The dynamics of intensified  repression, which has lasted for more than a year and was marked by  the arrests of such prominent critics of the authorities as  journalist Avaz Zeynalli, human rights activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev,  eco-activist Nazim Beydemirli, and economist Gubad Ibadoglu, as well  as the toughening of legislation regulating the work of the media and  political parties, indicates that the Azerbaijani authorities intend  to completely destroy independent civil society institutions inside  the country in the next two years. "In order to systematically and  objectively respond to the suppression of civil, political, and  socio-economic rights in Azerbaijan, we have established a new civic  initiative and will call on all international structures to which  Azerbaijan is a member to respond promptly to egregious human rights  violations in the country," Huseynov concluded.

The Azerbaijani Exiled Civic Coalition (AZEX) is concerned about the  indifferent and silent inaction of the Secretary General of the  Council of Europe Marija Pejcinovic Buric, who visited Azerbaijan in  December 2023 and held meetings with the country's leadership but did  not consider it necessary to meet with journalists and human rights  defenders oppressed in Azerbaijan. We note that since her previous  visit to Azerbaijan in April 2022 (when she also failed to meet with  civil society), the number of political prisoners in Azerbaijan has  almost doubled and now stands at around 240 people.

AZEX is also disappointed by the surprisingly strange lack of public  reaction to the massive arrests of journalists in Azerbaijan by the  OSCE Special Representative on Freedom of the Media, Teresa Ribeiro,  who over the past months seems to have deliberately refused to  respond to the repressive actions of the Azerbaijani authorities  against independent media.

The AZEX Coalition welcomes the recent statement by the European  External Action Service regarding the expression of concern over the  arbitrary detention of human rights journalists and activists and  calls on all international institutions that have political and  economic partnerships with Azerbaijan to demand that the country's  leadership comply with international human rights and democracy  commitments.

AZEX Coalition calls on the Azerbaijani authorities to release all  political prisoners and guarantee the respect of all fundamental  rights in the country on the eve of the presidential elections.

Given the apparent repressive attitude of the authorities towards  local civil society, the AZEX Coalition calls on ODIHR Director  Matteo Mecacci, OSCE Secretary General Helga Schmid, Secretary  General of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Roberto Montella and Pia  Kauma, President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, to re-evaluate  the pre-election environment as impossible for objective local and  international observation and to take an advisory decision on the  withdrawal of the ODIHR/OSCE presidential election observation  mission deployed earlier in the country, as the risks of using the  OSCE/ODIHR mission by the Azerbaijani authorities to whitewash their  international image are obvious."