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The Sport for Rights NGO coalition sent a letter to the president of the European Olympic Committee Patrick Hickey asking him to call on the government of Azerbaijan to release all of the political prisoners in advance of the opening ceremony of the European Games and to cease the further prosecution of independent journalists and human rights defenders. The authors of the letter encourage national Olympic committees, athletes, the press and the public to speak up for the political prisoners in Azerbaijan and for all Azerbaijanis facing violations of their basic rights and freedoms. The letter is posted on “International Partnership for Human Rights” website.

“The principles of fair Olympic competition — those of placing sport ‘at the service of the harmonious development of humankind’ and ‘promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity’— are enshrined in the Olympic Charter. These principles must be upheld in both the athletic competition and the entire organisational process and infrastructure of any multi-sport event. The experience of previous international public events organised by Azerbaijan, such as the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012, strongly indicates that President Aliyev’s regime will seek to use the Olympic event to whitewash or hide its deteriorating human rights record,” the letter reads.

Unlawful evictions have taken place across Baku to make way for luxurious infrastructure, thus concealing the country’s true poverty level, reports the letter. The Coalition highlights that given the rampant corruption throughout the regime and the fraudulent business activities of President Aliyev’s clan, there is little doubt that hosting the European Games in Baku will have a seriously negative impact on local communities by depriving them of much needed support for real, sustainable development.

“The severe and unprecedented crackdown on civil society activists and journalists in recent months raises suspicions that anyone who attempts to expose human rights violations will share the fate of imprisoned government critics,” the article proceeds. It notes that over the course of 2014, the Azerbaijani authorities have convicted or imprisoned at least 34 journalists, bloggers, human rights defenders and civil society activists to long-term prison sentences under sham charges such as ‘tax evasion’, ‘high treason’, ‘illegal entrepreneurship’ and ‘abuse of power’.

Since the summer of 2014, many human rights groups and NGOs have ceased their activities, while dozens of activists have either fled the country or gone into hiding. The Coalition also adds that these arrests and scare tactics are politically motivated. International bodies including the European Court of Human Rights, Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights also acknowledge the need of public and private international actors to place pressure on the Azerbaijani authorities regarding the violations of the human rights.

The Azerbaijani government must end its persecution of critics and journalists, as well as its unlawful financial and environmental practices. As a highly prestigious international event, the European Games will receive a high degree of media coverage. It would be a shameful legacy if the first ever event of this kind is overshadowed by grim news of political imprisonments and official corruption, the letter reads. The authors of the letter also demand guarantees for a free and objective media in Azerbaijan.

The letter is signed by 17 members of the Sport for Rights NGO coalition: Article 19 (United Kingdom), Center for Civil Liberties (Ukraine), Education for Democracy (Poland), European Stability Initiative (Germany), Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (Poland), Human Rights House Foundation (Norway), Index on Censorship (United Kingdom), International Partnership for Human Rights (Belgium), Netherlands Helsinki Committee (Netherlands), Norwegian Helsinki Committee (Norway), People in Need (Czech Republic), Platform London (United Kingdom), YouAid Foundation (Poland).