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International organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) is urging the international community to press Azerbaijan to "release the critics it has thrown behind bars and end its crackdown" as it prepares to host a major sporting event, RFE/RL reports.

According to the article, the organization released a video that shows prominent Azerbaijani activists and journalists who have been detained in the months leading up to the first-ever European Games, in Baku. "European leaders should make clear they will not be sending high-level delegations to the opening ceremonies unless people jailed for criticizing the government are freed and the government's crackdown on independent groups and activists ends," the article reads.

It is noted that earlier in April HRW reported that President Ilham Aliyev's government had used a range of bogus criminal charges in the last year to arrest or imprison at least 35 human rights defenders, political and civil activists, journalists, and bloggers. Among those rights groups jailed for political reasons are activist Leyla Yunus and her husband, Arif, journalist Khadija Ismayilova, human rights lawyer Intigam Aliyev, and youth activist Rasul Jafarov.

Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Nils Muižnieks, in his turn, has published his written observations to the European Court on the case of Leyla and Arif Yunus. “The case of Leyla and Arif Yunus illustrates the pattern of repression that has emerged in Azerbaijan in recent years whereby human rights defenders are harassed through restrictive NGO legislation and selectively targeted with criminal prosecutions on charges that defy credibility,” the office of Commissioner declared.

According to the website of RFE/RL, several Western countries and rights groups have called for the European Games as well as a Formula 1 auto race planned for next year not to be held in Azerbaijan because of its widely criticized human rights records.

“Authorities froze the bank accounts of independent civic groups and their leaders, impeded their work by refusing to register foreign grants, and imposed foreign travel bans on some,” the report reads. It also adds that many of those detained complained of ill-treatment in police custody. Many organizations, including several leading rights groups, were forced to cease activities in Azerbaijan.

The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has condemned the conviction of Rasul Jafarov, a prominent Azerbaijani civil society activist, calling his deprivation of liberty for 6.5 years "shocking."

It is also noted that Jafarov took part in a number of events organized by PACE. He was the founder and leader of the Human Rights Club and co-ordinator of the campaigns “Sing for Democracy,” prior to the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku in 2012, and “Sport for Rights,” prior to the European Games starting in June 2015.

Related:

EurasiaNet.org: European Games visitors to Azerbaijan to have what government orders for breakfast

The Washington Post: Olympic flame must illuminate terrible stain ruling regime is inflicting on Azerbaijan

Human rights groups appeal to U.S. Secretary of State to boycott European games in Baku