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March 28
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Amnesty International states that Azerbaijani authorities took advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to launch a large-scale campaign to persecute opposition and civic activists and independent journalists. Among other things, the government’s efforts to combat coronavirus were criticized, Amnesty International said in a new statement on the situation in Azerbaijan.

"Amid growing concerns over the spread of Covid-19 in prisons, not only do the Azerbaijani authorities continue to hold their unfairly prosecuted critics behind bars, they have stepped up their campaign of incarceration of political opponents on spurious and politically motivated charges under the pretext of fighting the pandemic. This is the latest offensive against freedom of expression and other fundamental human rights in the country.

Moreover, given the recent cases of Covid-19 infections in Azerbaijani penitentiary institutions, detained individuals are also exposed to higher risk of contracting the virus," Amnesty International said.

"Against this background, Azerbaijani authorities mounted a new wave of arrests and prosecutions of political activists, journalists and human rights defenders.

On 19 March, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev announced “new rules” for the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic, and promised to “clean up” Azerbaijan’s political opposition, which he called traitors and “the fifth column”. High profile arrests of political and civil rights activists under spurious charges have followed the President’s pronouncement, including the arrest of an opposition leader, Tofig Yagublu, on charges of hooliganism on 22 March, and human rights defender, Elchin Mammad, on charges of theft on 30 March. Both must be released immediately and unconditionally," it is noted.

"More than a dozen individuals, comprising activists, journalists and others who dared to criticize the authorities’ handling of the pandemic, have been detained and remanded in so-called administrative detention for periods ranging from 10 to 30 days on bogus charges including disobeying police orders or breaking the rules of lockdown. At least four journalists have been detained and jailed for their critical reporting on the government lockdown measures.

One of the country’s biggest opposition parties, the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), have reported that fifteen of their activists were arrested and jailed for up to 30 days under spurious administrative charges in connection with their peaceful political activism or criticism of the authorities. One of them, Niyameddin Ahmedov, arrested on 16 April, served in full his administrative detention of 30 days, given for his purported violation of lockdown rules. However instead of releasing him, on 18 May the authorities brought new criminal charges, accusing him of using money acquired from illicit drug trafficking under Criminal Code Article 214.1.

The timing of his arrest, the nature of the charges, and the circumstances under which these were brought following his arrest and detention for a purported administrative violation, indicate that his prosecution is politically motivated. He was denied access to the lawyer of his choice and has now been remanded in detention for additional four months until September. The charges against Niyameddin Ahmedov must be dropped and he should be released immediately together with other activists serving administrative detentions on spurious politically motivated charges."

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