Rights defenders condemn pressure on Azerbaijani advocates

Azerbaijani authorities should restore the powers of the lawyer Shakhla Gumbatova and her colleagues, also deprived of their powers for their defence of human rights, four international human rights organizations have stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 28, the Presidium of the Bar Association of Azerbaijan adopted a decision to suspend Shakhla Gumbatova's powers. Activists believe that they want removing Gumbatova from protecting the rights of people persecuted for political reasons.

In Azerbaijan, independent advocates are deprived of their licenses and pressed for participating in political cases dealing with human rights violations, says the joint statement of the Civil Rights Defenders, Freedom House, International Partnership for Human Rights and Lawyers for Lawyers. As an example, rights defenders point to the suspension of powers of Shakhla Gumbatova, Yalchin Imanov, Alaif Gasanov, Khalid Bagirov and Irada Djavadova, the Azerbaijani edition "Dosh" reported on December 6.

By removing Gumbatova from advocacy, the above Presidium has deprived Azerbaijanis of protection of their rights violations, says the statement. The above human rights organizations have called on the Azerbaijani authorities to restore the license of Gumbatova and other human rights advocates, the "Turan" News Agency reported on December 6.

Let us remind you that Gumbatova defended the interests of the defendants in the "Ganja case" and of the blogger Mekhman Guseinov.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 7, 2019 at 12:41 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.