CoE Commissioner for Human Rights criticizes human rights situation in Azerbaijan
The Council of Europe's human rights chief has harshly criticized Azerbaijani authorities over what he says is the deterioration of human rights and basic freedoms in the country, Nils Muiznieks, told RFE/RL and noted that "wave of arrests of human rights defenders" had increased in recent months.
He said the sitation was "totally unacceptable" and "flies in the face of the human rights obligations undertaken by Azerbaijan" when it joined the European human rights body.
The Council of Europe's human rights chief cited several cases in which Azerbaijani journalists and bloggers critical of the authorities have been jailed, persecuted, or humiliated. "The few critical voices that are still outside the country’s detention facilities face mounting pressure and often had to leave the country,” Muiznieks noted.