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Anne Brasseur, the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in her microblog in Twitter expressed concern over the aggravation of the situation of the human rights in Azerbaijan.

“I'm gravely concerned by the continuing deterioration of human rights in Azerbaijan and call the authorities to ensure that European Court of Human Rights standards are respected,” she noted, turning also to the extension of pre-trial detention of the Azerbaijani scientist Arif Yunus coming one week after the extension of pre-trial detention of his wife – human rights defender Leyla Yunus.

Nils Muižnieks, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, published on Council of Europe website his written observations over the human rights situation in Azerbaijan, which he amounted, basing on his visits to Azerbaijan in 2012, 2013 and 2014, as well as on continuous country monitoring. The report is based on discussions with a number of state authorities, meetings representatives of non-governmental organisations, as well as with a number of detained human rights defenders and other persons who had voiced dissenting views.

“Through his visits to Azerbaijan and continuous monitoring, the Commissioner has identified a number of deficiencies in the protection of freedom of expression, assembly and association in Azerbaijan. The Commissioner has had to conclude that Azerbaijan was failing to comply with its international obligations which require safeguarding these freedoms,” the text of the Observations read.

Reprisals against human rights defenders in retaliation for their work breach the rule of law. It’s also stated that the pre-trial detention is used as a tool of punishment to silence those expressing dissenting views, including preventing them from providing information to international human rights bodies.