The European Union on Friday urged the Government of Azerbaijan to release four human rights defenders and political activists currently in prison.
The European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, has expressed his «concern» over the detention of human rights defenders and political activists Bakhtiyar Hajiyev and Tofig Yagublu, as well as the recent extension of the pre-trial detention of Elchin Sadigov and Avaz Zeynalli.
«We urge the Azerbaijani authorities to release those imprisoned for exercising their fundamental rights and to lift the restrictions imposed on Elchin Sadiqov,» the spokesman said.
Borrell also reaffirmed the EU’s commitment to «continue dialogue and cooperation on human rights with Azerbaijan» as well as to «encourage democratic reforms».
Bajtiyar Hajiyev is an Azerbaijani activist and blogger who has already served time from 2011 to 2012 for evasion of military service, a detention that was widely criticized by numerous human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch (HRW).
According to the portal ‘Jam News’, Hajiyev was reportedly detained again in mid-December in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku for a period of one month and twenty days while the investigation opened against him continues.
For his part, Tofig Yagublu is a member of the opposition Musavat party, and was already detained by the authorities in December 2021 during a demonstration, in which he claimed to have suffered serious injuries in police custody.
Human Rights lawyer Elchin Sadigov and journalist and media owner Xural Avaz Zeynalli were arrested in September last year and charged with an alleged offense of accepting bribes. At the time of the arrest, Sadigov was representing Rasim Mammadov, a prominent Azerbaijani businessman accused of embezzlement.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
