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About a hundred prominent civil society activists, politicians and journalists of Azerbaijan issued a joint message, denouncing the arrest of Anar Mamedly, the head of the Election Monitoring and Democratic Studies Center (EMDS). According to Azerbaijani news agency Turan reports that they assess his arrest as part of a massive campaign of the authorities, who avenge the civil society.

Authors of the message are convinced that Mammedli is subjected to criminal prosecution for the implementation of projects on elections’ monitoring.

The statement also reminds that Bashir Suleymanli, executive director of the EMDS, and the head of the partner NGO of the Public Association of NGOs of international cooperation of volunteers Elnur Mamedly are also convicted. In addition, on December 17, the Parliament of Azerbaijan amended the law on NGOs, which became a continuation of the reaction changes made in the last five years, and created serious barriers to civil society.

As noted in the statement, the representatives of international NGOs have also become the target of the attacks of the authorities. Thus, the activities of the Norwegian Fund "House of Human Rights" and the U.S. National Democratic Institute were paralyzed. Audits began in several foreign NGOs. The purpose of this repression is to suppress critical voices in Azerbaijan, the activists believe.

“Publications in global and local media indicate that our economy is in the monopoly of high-ranking officials and their families, and public funds are flowing into the pockets of oligarchs,” the statement reads.

Thus, the international anti-corruption organizations and journalists have revealed high-transmission of contracts in the mining industry for the close relatives of the country's leadership. In addition, over the past 10 years billions of dollars have been withdrawn from Azerbaijan through various shady schemes. The withdrawn funds then return in high-income spheres of the economy of the country through companies owned by family members of senior officials.

“The government turns a blind eye to this illegal activity and tax evasion in the budget. In this regard, Anar Mamedly is charged with tax evasion,” the address reads.

The article reads that the arrest was implemented on the eve of signing an investment contract for the project "Shah Deniz -2"; and on the signing day reactionary amendments to the law on NGOs were made.

"We believe that this is a message of the Azerbaijani authorities to the West that by signing a new strategic agreement with the European Union, Baku rejects the values of human rights," reads the statement.

В документе сказано, что в Азербайджане процветает коррупция, попираются права собственности граждан. Фактически на грани уничтожения закрепленные Конституцией и Европейской конвенцией три основополагающих принципа прав и свобод человека – свобода выражения, собраний и объединений.

The document notes that corruption prospers in the country; the property rights of citizens are violated. Three fundamental principles of human rights and freedoms - freedom of expression, assembly and association face the threat of elimination.

The authors of the statement demand the violation of political prisoners. Authors of the appeal believe that before the introduction in May 2014 in the chairmanship of the CoE Committee of Ministers Azerbaijan should demonstrate respect for human rights. "We appeal to all interested structures of the CoE to call on the authorities to fulfill their obligations in the field of human rights, and if they ignore this appeal, apply appropriate sanctions," reads the statement.

There is also an appeal to PACE which says that before approving the mandate of the Azerbaijani delegation, to demand the government to stop the repressions and to release their victims.

They also call on the UN, the OSCE and the EU to provide all possible assistance to civil society activists in Azerbaijan under such a depressing situation.

On 9 of October Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies (EMDC) did a monitoring of Azerbaijani presidential elections and recorded numerous violations of law. In late October, the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s Office opened a criminal case and started investigations on EMDC. In regard to this an alliance organization “European Platform for Democratic Elections” (EPDE) issued a statement which says that EPDE protests against the arbitrary and illegal prosecutions on EMDC head Anar Mamadli. The alliance regrets for the measures the Azerbaijani government deploys against “independent, honest position of this organization in assessing the presidential elections in the country.”

On 9 October presidential elections took place in Azerbaijan in which the incumbent president Ilham Aliyev won the elections with almost 85% of the vote, thereby taking the post for the third time. The head of National Council of Democratic Forces Jamil Hasanli was second after Aliyev with 5.5% of vote. The opposition declared that it wouldn’t accept the election results because the elections were totally violated by ballot-box staffing, “carousel” etc. OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, U.S Department of State, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Britain and European Parliament called the elections undemocratic and inconsistent with OSCE standards.