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The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, has announced much-needed reforms to the human rights body’s “reprisal mechanism” – launched in May 2017 to ensure “human rights defenders… never face retribution for their principled stance.”

“Administrative detention of government critics is not related to committed offences but is a political tool of punishment for their political, social and media activities,” states EMDS in its report Politically Motivated Administrative Detentions.

Almost half of the 484 violations recorded relate to freedom of expression and the right to a fair trial, according to the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre (EMDS), member of Human Rights House Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani anti-corruption video blogger Mehman Huseynov has been released from prison, after serving a two-year sentence for defamation. This followed many years of repression by the authorities aimed at silencing him.

Speaking at the European Parliament, Azerbaijani human rights lawyer Fuad Aghayev raises how political bias in access to the Bar and politically motivated suspensions and disbarment have left only a handful of human rights lawyers to take politically sensitive cases.

Azerbaijani human rights lawyer Fuad Aghayev delivered the following statement to the European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights on 19 February 2019, as part of a hearing on attacks on the legal profession and lawyers defending human rights.

On 10 January 2019, Human Rights House Foundation wrote to the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, appealing for his personal intervention in the case of imprisoned Azerbaijani photojournalist, video blogger, and human rights defender Mehman Huseynov.

Some 41 member and partner NGOs of 13 Human Rights Houses issue a joint letter calling for urgent action from the international community to ensure the life, health, and rights of imprisoned Azerbaijani photojournalist, video blogger, and human rights defender Mehman Huseynov.

The Azerbaijani video journalist found no justice in his trial for defamation, and in August his first application for conditional release was rejected. His so far unsuccessful appeals against this rejection include an accuser not summoned to court and warnings against informing people of their rights. Such events are a repeat of the injustices that took place during his arrest and trial.