The US believes that the Azerbaijani authorities have not honored their commitments to human rights and civil liberties. 

US Department of State Acting Spokesperson Marie Harf stated about the aforesaid at Thursday’s press briefing, and in connection with the Freedom of the Press 2015 report, which the Freedom House human rights organization has released.   

“12 journalists and bloggers remain detained or imprisoned on [Azerbaijan] government orders. Among the 12, Mr. Hilal Mammadov – Mammadov, I think – has been imprisoned since 2013.

“The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention considers his detention arbitrary, and has requested his immediate release in March 2014. A number of international human rights groups have also called for his release. We join them in calling for the immediate release of him and other journalists and bloggers who were incarcerated for simply exercising their right to freedom of expression.

“We call for an end to all such prosecutions and other forms of pressure on the independent press, and for Azerbaijan to honor its commitments to freedom of expression,” TASS news agency of Russia quoted Harf as saying.

In the aforesaid Freedom House report, Azerbaijan ranks 188th in the list that includes 199 countries.