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In Azerbaijan, they talk about the return of the repressions of 1937. As noted in the article published on the website of the Russian service of the British Broadcasting Corporation BBC, Azerbaijan tries hard to get rid of the image of the post-Soviet countries. Old Khrushchev-style houses are demolished; in their place grow skyscrapers, and all the signs of the Soviet, including monuments and street names reminiscent of the period from 1922 to 1991, are rapidly disappearing.

Nevertheless, in the recent years, and especially during the recent weeks, they have started to talk about the repetition of 1937th in Azerbaijan, referring to the wave of Stalinist repression.

For two weeks, many well-known human rights activists in Azerbaijan have been arrested on various charges. Some of them, including Leyla Yunus, Rasul Jafarov and Intigam Aliyev, are well known outside the country due to their attempts to tell the world about human rights violations in Azerbaijan. Another well-known Azerbaijani human rights activist, Emin Huseynov, has been lost about a week ago, as soon as the office of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS) headed by him was searched, and then sealed. Neither the authorities, nor Huseynov’s friends know where he and his brother, well-known photojournalist Mehman are, the article writes.

Despite this fact the Azerbaijani authorities firmly insist that no one is arrested in the country for his political beliefs, but the Azerbaijanis quite well know about the arrests of dissidents and activists.

"In August, sharp increase of state repression started. This is a critical point in the history of civil society in Azerbaijan. It is not about the number of arrests, but about how they will affect the civil society in the country," said a Senior South Caucasus Researcher at Human Rights Watch Giorgi Gogia.

Giorgi Gogia also suggests that the reason for the wave of repression could serve preparation for another event, which Azerbaijan is going to accept: in less than a year the first of the European games in the history will be held there, a sort of Olympics for Europe.

All those that are put behind the bars since July 30 – human rights activist Leyla Yunus, her husband, the historian Arif Yunus, the leader of the human rights Club Rasul Jafarov and lawyer Intigam Aliyev – have several things in common. All of them have publicly criticized the government; all of them have worked with the international organizations, investigating human rights violations in Azerbaijan. But what is more probable the most important thing is that all of them have worked on the same report on political prisoners in Azerbaijan, the article reads.

Azerbaijani political scientist Azer Hasymly believes that this was the main reason why these people were arrested almost simultaneously. "The authorities do not want such a report to be published, that’s why they have decided to press on them and to arrest the authors. All those arrested are known in Azerbaijan and abroad as defenders who shed light on human rights violations in the country," Hasymly noted.

As noted in the article, Giorgi Gogia believes that the fact that the mentioned arrests take place at a time when Azerbaijan presides at the Council of Europe, the main European body for the protection of human rights, are frightening. Despite the fact that the West is often criticized for being not sufficiently tough with Azerbaijan for human rights violations, Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland stated that during a telephone conversation with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev he had had discussion on the arrests in the country.

"In the telephone conversation with President Aliyev, I expressed my deep concern about the recent arrests of prominent human rights defenders," said Jagland in his statement.

The European Pro Bono Advocacy Alliance urged the Azerbaijani authorities to release, the head of the Legal Education Society, human rights defender Intigam Aliyev, reports the "Caucasian Knot"."Aliyev has played a leading role in the development of legal culture of Azerbaijan. He freely provided legal services, participated in the trials," notes the statement of Pro Bono alliance.
The paper also highlights that the work carried out by Aliyev in the Legal Education Society has made it possible to achieve many positive decisions by the European Court of Human Rights, including those concerning the protection of freedom of assembly, freedom of speech and the right to a fair trial. Aliyev believes that his arrest is linked to challenging cases in the European Court of Human Rights. He believes that his arrest is intended to make it more difficult to work with the ECHR, the statement read.

Azerbaijani embassy in Germany has responded to statement of the Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid at the Federal Foreign Office Christoph Strässer upon the arrest of human rights activist Leyla Yunusova and her husband Arif Yunusov. Christoph Strässer’s statement highlights the fact that the involvement of Leyla and Arif Yunusovs in the investigation as suspects is legally unfounded, Salamnews reports.