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On the eve of Azerbaijan's chairmanship at the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, the human rights organization Amnesty International published a report on Azerbaijan entitled “Behind Bars: Silencing Dissent in Azerbaijan.” The report shows how the beatings, unfair trials and detention in Azerbaijan are practiced in order to control and restrict the activities of opposition parties, independent media and government critics. The report is published on the site of the organization.

According to the report, on 14 May 2014, Azerbaijan will take on the Chairmanship of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers for the first time. While the last decade has witnessed an oil-fuelled boom in Azerbaijan and a significant, if uneven, increase in living standards, thirteen years of Council of Europe membership have done little to improve the respect for civil and political rights in the country.

The clampdown on the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly that marred the run up to the October 2013 presidential elections,1 has continued since – to the extent that it has become increasingly dangerous and difficult for dissenting voices, opposition political parties and civil society activists.

As noted in the report criticism of and opposition to the government has become a dangerous business in Azerbaijan. Amnesty International currently recognizes 19 individuals in Azerbaijan as prisoners of conscience. They include NGO leaders, youth activists, politicians, bloggers and journalists, who have been convicted or are standing trial on a range of fabricated charges.

Mindful of Azerbaijan’s looming chairmanship, the Committee of Ministers agreed a two-year Action Plan “intended to support reforms in the field of human rights, rule of law and democracy in Azerbaijan” on 16 April 2014. Characteristically, however, no announcement of this adoption of this plan was made beyond its cursory record in the official proceedings of the Committee of Ministers that day.

Amnesty International speaks in its report about prosecutions of civil society activists and bloggers, in particular the NIDA movement activists, the head of Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre Anara Mammadov, the active Facebook users Omar Mammadov and Abdul Abilov, as well as the obstacles created during the registration of NGOs and violations of the right to free assembly.

Amnesty International notes that the Azerbaijani authorities should start to respect the right of freedom of speech, assembly, association, and to immediately and unconditionally release those imprisoned for the peaceful exercise of these rights. Council of Europe, its Parliamentary Assembly, the Secretary-General and the Committee of Ministers should with all perseverance require Azerbaijan to fulfill its obligations.