Freedom House
June 27, 2014
As Azerbaijan hosts parliamentarians from 56 nations for the Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Freedom House issued the followed statement:
“It’s striking that parliamentarians from across Europe can travel to Baku to discuss human security while members of Azerbaijan’s civil society are forcibly detained and generally threatened,” said Matthew Hale of the Lifeline Embattled Civil Society Fund, led by Freedom House. “Some activists are just beginning lengthy prison terms, others have had their passports confiscated, preventing them from traveling to OSCE events abroad.”
President Ilham Aliyev’s actions against civil society organizations include, in May 2014, sentencing members of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center (EMDS) to prison on trumped up charges, with its director Anar Mammadli sentenced to five-and-a-half years. Charges brought against EMDS include failure to register election monitoring activities, despite the organization’s attempts to do so. Repressive legislation makes it nearly impossible for human rights groups to operate legally in Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan is rated Not Free in Freedom in the World 2014, Not Free in Freedom of the Press 2014 and Partly Free in Freedom on the Net 2013.
To learn more about Azerbaijan, visit:
Azerbaijan Sends Pro-Democracy Activists to Prison
Azerbaijan Detains Human Rights Figure, Pressures Civil Society
Freedom in the World 2014: Azerbaijan
Freedom of the Press 2013: Azerbaijan
Freedom on the Net 2013: Azerbaijan
Blog: Freedom at Issue
Freedom House is an independent watchdog organization that supports democratic change, monitors the status of freedom around the world, and advocates for democracy and human rights.