Rights defenders demand to release arrested "ReAl" activists

The international human rights organization "Amnesty International" (AI) and Public Alliance "Azerbaijan without Political Prisoners" have called on the Baku officials to immediately release three arrested activists of the movement "Republican Alternative" (ReAl), including Natiq Jafarli, Elshan Gasymov, and Togrul Ismail, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 12, Natiq Jafarli, the executive secretary and co-founder of the movement "ReAl", was detained and arrested for four months. His defence has claimed that there were no reasons for the arrest and that the criminal proceedings were politically motivated. Natiq Jafarli is charged with unlawful use of grants and abuse of office. In the evening of August 15, Elshan Gasymov, and Togrul Ismail, two activists of the movement "ReAl", were detained in Baku, and the court found both activists guilty of disobeying the police and arrested them for 7 days.

"The Azerbaijani authorities are to dismiss all the charges against Natiq Jafarli, Elshan Gasymov, and Togrul Ismail and to release them immediately and unconditionally," claims the statement disseminated by the AI on August 16.

According to the AI's statement, "recent arrests of three political activists are an indicator of consistent hard attitude of the authorities to securing in the country's fundamental freedoms of expression and association."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.