Human Rights Watch demands to end repressions in Azerbaijan

On October 22, the international human rights organization "Human Rights Watch" published a statement in which it roundly denounced the massive arrests of opposition activists and frauds in the course of the presidential elections of October 15.

Human Rights Watch has been able to confirm at least 190 arrests of opposition leaders and supporters. Several national leaders of the opposition have been among those arrested, including Sardar Jalaloglu, secretary-general of the Azerbaijan Democratic Party (ADP), taken from his home on October 18 by armed masked men; Igbal Agazadeh, chair of the Umid (?Hope?) Party, arrested on October 17; Panah Huseinov, chair of the Khalq (?Nation?) Party, and a former prime minister of Azerbaijan, arrested on October 19; and Vagif Hajibeili, chair of the Ahrar Party, arrested on October 17. The main opposition leader and presidential contender Isa Gambar, chair of the Musavat Party, is under house arrest, and his bodyguards have been detained.

Human Rights Watch called on the government of Azerbaijan to publish a full list of all those arrested in the aftermath of the election, their whereabouts and the charges against them.

"International monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Council of Europe and the National Institute for Democracy (NDI) have confirmed widespread fraud on election day. According to many reports, the families of opposition election officials who refused to sign forged protocols have also come under pressure and been victims of intimidation from government officials, and in some cases have themselves been arrested," reads the statement of HRW.

Human Rights Watch calls on the Azerbaijan authorities to immediately end the crackdown against members of the opposition. It also urges the Council of Europe and the OSCE, together with the United States and the European Union, to press the Azerbaijan government to form an independent commission to investigate election fraud. Election experts from the Council of Europe and OSCE should be part of this commission.