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In light of the mounting concerns about the human rights situation in Azerbaijan, and particularly, the latest verdicts to the pro-democracy activist Rasul Jafarov and human rights lawyer Intigam Aliyev to 6.5 and 7.5 years in prison, respectively, international organizations Index on Censorship, Human Rights Watch and Article 19 on 28 April hosted Give Human Rights a Sporting Chance in Azerbaijan in London. The event addressed the question of how journalists can effectively cover the European games given the full scope of social and political issues in Azerbaijan, Index reports.

According to the material, on the panel were Emin Milli, a former political prisoner in Azerbaijan, now director of Meydan TV; Rebecca Vincent, coordinator of the Sport for Rights campaign; and Giorgi Gogia, Human Rights Watch’s senior researcher on Azerbaijan who was recently denied entry into the country. To sum up the panel, the human rights activists identified 7 key points regarding the situation around the upcoming European games: 

1) Azerbaijan’s human rights community has been all but wiped out over the past year
2) In light of the human rights situation in Azerbaijan, the EOC is not free of responsibility…
3) … and neither are European states
4) The Azerbaijani government has invested in an international PR campaign — and it’s working
5) The games are not popular among ordinary Azerbaijanis
6) Sports journalists should report on more than just sports during the games
7) Despite Azerbaijan’s current climate, human rights activism remains important and worthwhile

Earlier, the co-reporters of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) dealing with the monitoring of Azerbaijan, Pedro Agramunt (Spain) and Tadeusz Iwinski (Poland), expressed their deep disappointment at the sentence of Intigam Aliyev, the organization website reports.

“Mr Aliyev is a longstanding partner of the Council of Europe and has acted as a legal adviser in many cases against Azerbaijan pending before the European Court of Human Rights. His arrest, pre-trial detention and sentencing for facts linked to his NGO work complicates human rights activity in Azerbaijan, and would appear to be part of an attempt to make this work impossible,” the co-reporters state calling on the authorities to investigate these events and to provide an explanation for the severe sentence given to this human rights defender.

In its turn, the Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum on Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan made a statement concerning the “heavy prison sentences on highly questionable tax evasion charges” of the prominent Azerbaijani human rights defenders Intigam Aliev and Rasul Jafarov, the website of the Forum reads.

“The European Union and its Member States should defend the values on which the Eastern Partnership is founded and take into account the human rights situation in Azerbaijan when negotiating with its government,” the members of the Forum state.

It is noted in the statement that both Intigam Aliev and Rasul Jafarov were active members of the Civil Society Forum. In line with the arrests and sentencing of human rights defenders go investigations of nongovernmental organisations and blocking of NGO bank accounts, humiliating searches of well-known civil society activists at their departure from and entry into the country. The government combines these measures with the adoption of new laws that considerably limit grant support for projects of local NGOs by international donors, as well as other legal restrictions, which make any activity other than approved by the Azerbaijani authorities impossible. This campaign is accompanied by Soviet style rhetoric from a number of senior officials of Azerbaijan and insults against reputable civil society representatives as members of the "fifth column", aimed at creating an atmosphere of fear for NGO activists.

"Harassment of civil society organizations, opposition politicians and independent journalists, working on strengthening democracy and freedom of expression, by one of the Eastern Partners must not be tolerated by the European community based on the rule of law," the members of the Steering Committee of the Forum say demanding the immediate and unconditional release of Intigam Aliyev and Rasul Jafarov together with all prisoners of conscience currently held in Azerbaijan.

Related:

Foreign journalists to be censored by Azerbaijan during European Games

Azerbaijani human rights defender Intigam Aliyev sentenced to 7.5 years imprisonment

Azerbaijani human rights defender Rasul Jafarov sentenced to 6.5 years’ imprisonment