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The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) calls on the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers to take immediate measures to address the disturbing trend of arresting members of Azerbaijan’s civil society.

Specifically, the IBAHRI urges the Secretary General to convoke an urgent session of the Committee in order to discuss the situation and to draft a resolution condemning the recent arrests.

IBAHRI Co-Chair Baroness Helena Kennedy QC said, ‘It is disturbingly ironic that, at a time when Azerbaijan holds the Chairmanship of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, the most dramatic crackdown of civil society in the country’s own jurisdiction is taking place. Rather than representing the democratic values of the Council of Europe and upholding the essential freedoms guaranteed in the European Convention on Human Rights, Azerbaijan is undermining them.’ She added, ‘Azerbaijan has both domestic and international obligations to legally protect fundamental human rights, such as freedom of expression. It is wholly unacceptable that the Azerbaijani authorities are so flagrantly violating these basic liberties.’

The IBAHRI fact-finding delegation, which visited Azerbaijan in late 2013, found that Azerbaijani criminal law is being used to silence critics of the regime and curtail the operating freedom of journalists and human rights defenders. The resulting May 2014 IBAHRI report, Azerbaijan Freedom of Expression on Trial, found there to be a number of politically motivated prosecutions commonly consisting of fabricated charges against civil society actors.