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On Saturday, 25 April, a symbolic ceremony marked the opening of the Human Rights House in Baku. Ambassadors of Norway and Great Britain, representatives from the OSCE, US Embassy, Swiss Embassy and the European Union as well as local human rights defenders, Turan Agency and American Bar Association came to mark this significant event.

24 prominent Azeri intellectuals, civil society and NGO leaders wrote an open letter to Ilham Aliyev demanding from him not to limit your speeches only by stating economic and social objectives, but to make public the specific program on democratization and political reforms, which would promote Azerbaijan’s speedy integration in European structures.

Respected Mr. President! As the representatives of the nation which was the leader of democratization in the Muslim world and created the first Democratic Republic with the Parliamentary rule, as the heirs of the ideas of freedom and liberal reforms, declared by our enlighteners and founders of the republic, which had a significant influence on […]

The appeal of “Azadliq” newspaper Ganja region correspondent Ershad Ibrahimov, who was arrested on 17 April, was considered on 22 April and the decision of Ganja City’s Nizami District Court has been annulled. The Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) was told by the journalist’s lawyer Alayif Hasanov that Ibrahimov was released in the court hall.

The Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) resolutely condemns the unwarranted one-year prison sentence for defamation handed down against “Tezadlar” newspaper editor-in-chief Asif Merzili and the six-month corrective labour sentence issued against Merzili’s colleague, journalist Zumrud Mammedova.

In a fresh statement on the referendum over consitutional amendments in the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee addresses the state coercion to make people vote, the absence of a meaningful public debate, and ultimately, given the rushed advance procedures, of the legality of the referendum. read the full stement below.

The Minister of Internal Affairs of Republic of Azerbaijan has dropped the civil proceedings against human rights defender Leila Yunus, director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, for alleged defamation. A hearing on this case took place in Yasamal District Court in the capital, Baku, on 2 March 2009, where it was announced that the defamation suit against Leila Yunus has been withdrawn.

On this day, four years ago, on March 2, 2005 the editor of the weekly Monitor, Elmar Huseynov, was brutally killed.

Independent journalist Eldaniz Elgun reported to the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety on 27 February 2009 that he has received death threats over his banned novel.