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Azerbaijan intensifies repressions to silence dissent ahead of the world’s first European Games in capital next summer, writes British The Guardian.

Within two weeks many prominent human rights activists were arrested based on various charges. Some of them, including Leyla Yunus , rasul Jafarov and Intigam Aliyev are well known also outside Azerbaijan due to their efforts to tell the world about the violations of human rights in Azerbaijan, says the material.

Veteran activist and lawyer Intigam Aliyev was detained on 08 August charged with tax evasion, abuse of office and illegal entrepreneurship. He was swiftly jailed for three months. Amnesty International called the charges “trumped up” and said Aliyev had been “detained solely for his work as a human rights defender”, says the publication.

International organization Human Rights Watch has also made a statement in which it called for suspending Azerbaijan’s membership in the International transparency initiative.

As the announcement of the organization notes, the Azerbaijan government’s offensive against human rights defenders and nongovernmental organizations should lead to its suspension from an international transparency initiative, Human Rights Watch said today. Azerbaijan is a founding member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a prominent international coalition that promotes government openness in natural resource management.

“Azerbaijan is blatantly violating EITI rules, and EITI cannot afford to be complicit in this hypocrisy. The government has made it so difficult to operate that a majority of independent organizations involved in EITI have suspended their activities and some may soon be forced to close. Their leaders fear they may be next to face arrest,” said Lisa Misol, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Azerbaijan’s government began a relentless crackdown on government critics and independent groups in the months before presidential elections in 2013 and since then has escalated the pressure, says the publication. “Authorities have arrested and imprisoned at least 40 journalists, civil and political activists, and human rights defenders in the last two years on various trumped-up charges, including hooliganism, tax evasion, drug possession, and even sate treason,” says the announcement.

The minutes of a May 2013 EITI board meeting show that the EITI leadership turned to President Aliyev asking him not to pass the legal amendments regarding limitations on civil society participation in EITI. However Azerbaijan’s representative staunchly claiming that legal restrictions did not create any obstacles for the civil society.

EITI’s rules allow suspension or even expulsion of any participating country if it is “manifestly clear” that its government has breached “a significant aspect of the EITI Principles and Requirements.”

Earlier Azerbaijani information agency Turan reported that the health condition of the detained human rights activist Leyla Yunus had worsened. This was stated by a friend of Yunus family doctor Azat Isazade who on 12 august spoke on the phone with L Yunus. “She suffers from chronic kidney disease, and Arif after these events suffered two hypertensive crises. According to Leyla they give her painkillers. She has medicines from diabetes, but they are running out,” said Isazade.