In Azerbaijan authorities exert pressure on two other public figures
Prosecutor general's office of Azerbaijan has banned human rights activist Rasul Jafarov from leaving the country, Azerbaijani information agency Turan reports.
According to the article, on the evening of 28 July Jafarov was on a train to Tbilisi but on the morning of the 29th at Beyuk-Kyasik station the border guards stopped him from leaving the country. As it turned out the ban had been introduced on 25 July. Earlier, according to the prosecutor’s office, Jafarov’s bank accounts had been arrested.
“Thus, on 6 July Jafarov was unable to use his bank cards in Kiev. On the 7 July at Republic bank they explained that it was caused by “technical problems” but later they informed about the court decision on the arrest of the bank accounts. On 16 July Jafarov turned to Sabail District Court of Baku demanding to show him the decision about the arrest of his accounts. The case has still not been heard,” reads the publication.
The reasons for the imposed restrictions are not clear to Jafarov as he does not qualify either as a witness or as a convict under any criminal case. He has never even been called to the prosecutor general’s office, writes Turan.
“The human rights activist thinks that sanctions against him are the response of the authorities to the report on human rights violations in Azerbaijan that he had presented at PACE session in Strasbourg in June. After that report a black PR campaign was launched against him in pro-government media,” reads the article.
The agency adds that during the recent years Jafarov has been one of the active human rights defenders of the country and at present he is the coordinator of the “Art for Democracy” campaign.
Besides, as the Azerbaijani news portal Haqqin.az reports, famous Azerbaijani publicist Seymur Baycan has been detained while crossing the Azerbaijani-Georgian border.
In the morning of 29 July customs officers of Azerbaijan detained him while crossing the border and interrogated him for an hour, reports the website.
“They talked to me rudely. I failed to explain to them that they were government officials and had no right to behave like that. They checked my luggage, particularly books, and started calling somewhere. Then they let me go,” Seymur Baycan said.
Shortly before that, famous human rights activist Leyla Yunus had likewise been arrested. A number of charges were brought against her, among them that of state treason.
According to the data provided by the Institute of Peace and Democracy as of 21 May 2014 there were 130 victims of political repressions in Azerbaijan – 41 criminals of conscience and 89 political prisoners.