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Thorbjorn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, has made a statement about the court verdict on a group of opposition members in Azerbaijan.

"Without the freedom of expression and the freedom of association there is no democracy,” he stated.

He is deeply concerned about the sentences handed down on 3 October to Arif Hadjili, Mahamat Majidli, Tural Abbasli and Fuad Gahramanli on charges of conspiracy to violate public order for planning and organzsing anti-government protests on 2 April in Baku.

“These sentences are set against a backdrop of a worrying increase in cases being brought against individuals seeking to exercise their basic rights, rights which the Azerbaijan authorities are obliged to respect in a member State of the Council of Europe. Such worrying trends must be placed alongside the increasingly difficult environment in which legal professionals are constrained to work,” the statement said.

The Secretary General of the Council of Europe called on the Azerbaijani authorities to ensure that lawyers, and particularly those acting in defense of opposition figures, are allowed to practice their profession without prejudice, and without consequence to their status, in full respect of the Rule of Law.

“The Council of Europe remains ready to work closely with the authorities in Azerbaijan to bring both the country's legislation and its administrative and judicial practices to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms, particularly those concerning freedom of expression and of assembly, to the level that its citizens can legitimately expect."