Azerbaijani MFA lashes out at CE Commissioner for Human Rights over  call for release of illegally detained people 

ArmInfo.  Azerbaijan has thrown another tantrum over the call by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O'Flaherty to release dozens of illegally detained human rights defenders, journalists and activists from prison.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, in its characteristically  inadequate manner, stated that "O'Flaherty's statements are a  groundless and biased statement, as well as an unsuccessful attempt  to interfere in our internal affairs of Azerbaijan, which official  Baku rejects."

Then Baku assured that allegedly in Azerbaijan "all human rights and  freedoms are ensured in accordance with national legislation and  international obligations," apparently known only to the Azerbaijani  Foreign Ministry.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry also rudely called on the CoE  Commissioner to refrain from interfering "in the work of the  independent judiciary of Azerbaijan, and instead focus on numerous  systematic human rights problems in a number of Council of Europe  countries, growing Islamophobia, degrading treatment of migrants and  asylum seekers, political persecution, deaths in prisons, and  widespread corruption in European institutions."

On the eve, Michael O'Flaherty called on the Azerbaijani authorities  to immediately release Anar Mammadli and all other human rights  defenders, journalists and civil society activists imprisoned for  their work, and to drop the criminal charges against them, as well as  any related restrictions, including a ban on traveling abroad.

He recalled that in 2018, the European Court of Human Rights ruled  that Mammadli's arrest in 2013 on similar charges violated the  European Convention on Human Rights.

According to him, there was no reasonable suspicion that he had  committed a criminal offence, and the actual purpose of his arrest  was to silence and punish him.

"Today, most human rights defenders, journalists and civil society  activists in prison, like him, are in pre- trial detention, but  several of them have already been sentenced to harsh penalties.

The European Court, the European Commission for Democracy through Law  (Venice Commission) and the UN Committee against Torture have found  that Azerbaijan's legislation does not comply with international  standards regarding the regulation of civil society organisations and  the media. I will continue to closely monitor the situation and raise  these issues with the Azerbaijani authorities, including in the  context of visits to the country," the CoE Commissioner said in a  statement.