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To: The President of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, Mr. Mevlüt Çavusoglu The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Mr. Thorbjørn Jagland The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Mr. Thomas Hammarberg The President of the European Commission Mr. José Manuel Barroso The President of the European Parliament Mr. Jerzy Buzek

Tagansky district court of Moscow found the organizers of the exhibition in Sakharov Museum “Forbidden Art 2006”, former museum director Yury Samodurov and former director of the Department of High Technologies of Tretiakov Gallery Andrey Erofeev guilty of inciting religious hatred and enmity. Samodurov has been sentenced to pay a fine of 200’000 rubles and Erofeev has been sentenced to a fine of 150’000 rubles.

Таганский суд Москвы признал виновными организаторов выставки в Центре имени Сахарова “Запретное искусство – 2006” – экс-директора музея и общественного центра им. А.Д. Сахарова Юрия Самодурова и бывшего заведующего отделом новейших течений Третьяковской галереи Андрея Ерофеева – в возбуждении ненависти и вражды по религиозным признакам. Самодуров и Ерофеев приговорены к штрафам в 200 тыс. и 150 тыс. рублей соответственно.

42 human rights organisations and members of the Human Rights House Network condemn the 6 July 2010 decision by a Baku district court to convict Editor-in-chief Eynulla Fatullayev of drug possession and sentence him to two years and six months imprisonment.

As a member of the Council of Europe, Republic of Azerbaijan has committed to respect basic freedoms, human rights and democracy. In spite of this commitment, human rights violations continue to be numerous and widespread and occur on a systematic basis. 16 human rights organisations welcome the thorough report of the Committee of the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe, Doc 12270 31 May 2010 and urge the members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to adopt the Draft resolution.

Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Human Rights House Foundation, Norwegian PEN, English PEN, Norwegian Union of Journalists, Rafto Foundation, Index of Censorhip and ARTICLE 19 condemn the illegal confiscation of material and documentary footage from the Norwegian filmmaker Erling Borgen and the cameraman Dag Inge Dahl in Baku Airport on May 6, 2010. We call upon Azerbaijani authorities to honour Azerbaijan’s international human rights obligations and restore the seized property to the owners.

On May 3rd, the international day of freedom of expression, the members of the South Caucasus Network of Human Rights Defenders in Georgia – Human Rights Center, Article 42, Center for the Protection of Constitutional Rights and Multinational Georgia – express their deep concern over the fact that journalists represent one those groups of human rights defenders in Georgia, who most often face pressure and intimidation from the authorities.

Members of the Human Rights House Network call upon the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately execute the decision of the European Court of Human Rights from 22 April 2010 in the case ‘Fatullayev v. Azerbaijan’ (application no 40984/07), to release the journalist from detention and compensate him for the damages he has suffered.

On 14 April members of the Human Rights House Network and several other international human rights organisations sent a letter of concern on the executions of two Belarusian citizens – Andrei Zhuk and Vasil Yuzepchuk. The letter signatories condemned that the fact of execution as well as deplored the Republic of Belarus ignoring its international obligations in human rights.