Azerbaijan

IFEX members have been among those calling for the charges against Huseynov to be dropped and for him to be unconditionally released.

Human rights groups call for Mehman Huseynov to be transferred to a civilian hospital, for the new charges against him to be dropped and for him to be released from jail.

Ismayilova has suffered years of persecution because of her journalism exposing the corruption of the Aliyev regime.

Azerbaijani IFEX member and long-time critic of President Aliyev’s regime, Mehman Huseynov, faces dubious assault charges just two months before he is due to be released from jail.

IMS, IFEX, CPJ, and the ISLP have submitted a joint third-party intervention to the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Azerbaijani journalist and human rights defender Emin Huseynov.

Don’t be misled: The large number of TV channels on offer in Turkey, Russia and Ukraine does not translate into pluralism of viewpoint.

Activist Ilgar Mammadov has been released from prison after serving five years on trumped up charges of inciting violence; he will serve a further two years suspended, during which time his freedom of movement will be limited.

President Aliyev calls snap election for April 2018 but ongoing human rights abuses undermine any meaningful prospect of free and fair elections.

As Azerbaijan begins trying a journalist who was kidnapped from neighbouring Georgia, RSF urges the international community to take a firm stand to protect the country’s few remaining independent journalists.

RSF urges the Ukrainian authorities to free Fikret Huseynli at once and calls for an urgent reform of Interpol, whose red notice system is often abused by repressive governments in order to pursue dissidents after they have fled abroad.

Azerbaijan is finally facing consequences for keeping political activist Ilgar Mammadov behind bars in violation of his rights and its legal obligations. This is an unprecedented and bold step – something the Council of Europe has never done before.

Azerbaijani authorities have often used bogus tax-related and other charges to jail critical journalists and bloggers, as seems to be the case here.

IRFS calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release Azadliq executive director Faig Amirli and to stop the harassment of the newspaper and its staff.

“It was immediately after President Ilham Aliyev’s appointment of his wife Mehriban Aliyeva as the first vice-president of Azerbaijan that the authorities launched a large-scale repression against critics,” said IRFS.

After an Azerbaijani journalist was spirited away from Georgia, rights groups say the country must back up its previous statements on enforced disappearances.

An Azeri journalist who was was investigating corruption within Azerbaijan’s first family will face prosecution in his native country after being kidnapped from Georgia’s capital.