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“The situation concerning the nearing municipality elections due on 17 December in the Republic of Azerbaijan is miserable”, says Leyla Yunus, director of the non-governmentInstitute of Peace and Democracy (IPD). Mass arrest actions follow every elections in the Republic of Azerbaijan and according to IPC the municipal election in 2004 are not an exception.( (15-DEC-2004).
 

Municipal elections will be held in the Republic of Azerbaijan on December 17, 2004.  According to the Central Election Commission (CEC), 21650 members to 2735 municipalities will be elected during the polls. At present, there are a total of 4,462,000 electorates in the Republic of Azerbaijan. During the elections, 38,866 candidates will run for municipal seats. (10-DEC-2004)
 

The World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) and
Azerbaijan Federation of Human Rights Organizations (AFHRO) express their concerns regarding violence against women in the Republic of Azerbaijan at the 33rd session of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights(CESCR). (10-DEC-2004)
 

The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) has today published its first report on Republic of Azerbaijan, together with the Government’s responses. The report concerns the CPT’s periodic visit to Republic of Azerbaijan in November/December 2002.In the report, the CPT concludes that people detained by the police in the Republic of Azerbaijan run a significant risk of being ill-treated. The Committee recommends that a high priority be given to professional training for police officers and that the legal safeguards against ill-treatment (such as notification of custody, access to a lawyer and access to a doctor) be applied as from the very outset of deprivation of liberty. (09- Dec-2004) 

TURAN AGENCY: On the 18th of November the Court of appeal considering the case of 7 opposition leaders, accused for participation in 15-16 October events, concluded the work. However, the entire prognosis failed again when the court left the sentence of 7 opposition leaders in force.(21-NOV-04)
 

(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters sans frontieres (RSF) has condemned the Azerbaijani authorities´ freezing of the assets of “Yeni Musavat”, the country´s main opposition daily, on 16 November 2004. The move has forced the paper to cease publishing. The decision was taken on the grounds that the newspaper failed to pay fines and damages totalling some 125,000 euros.   (18 NOV 2004)
 

Issue of one of the leading opposition newspapers of Republic of Azerbaijan “Yeni Musavat” will stop on November 16. According to the Acting Editor of the newspaper Gabil Abbasoglu, the reason – are financial problems. Serious financial hardships of “Yeni Musavat” began in the end of 2003 after executing of court sanctions. In particular, the bank accounts of the newspaper had been arrested and income from selling was spent on paying out debts. Over 2000-2003 the courts fined “Yeni Musavat” with $160,000. (15 NOV 2004)

ARTICLE 19, the London-based Global Campaign for Freedom of Expression, calls upon the Azerbaijani authorities to ensure that its implementation of the Law on Public broadcasing adopted November 5 2004 is “in line with both global standards and Azerbaijan´s international obligations” including accessibility to all citizens, diversity of programmes and themes, as well as editorial and operational independence. (15 NOV 2004)
 

Penitentiary system of Republic of Azerbaijan is one of the most closed spheres even despite democratization of the state system and joining of the country to numerous conventions. Nevertheless, the things impossible during the soviet times or during the initial period of independence are possible today, There almost is not any serious obstacle for visiting of the jails by the human rights activists and journalist unions and the representatives of the international organizations.  (12-NOV-2004)