Multimedia Newsroom
Monday, 20 April 2015
Available in
  • ENG

  • Azerbaijan: Release Activists, Journalists Behind Bars

    Feature
    Duration : 3m 38s
    (Berlin, April 20, 2015) – Azerbaijan’s international partners should insist on the release of wrongfully detained and imprisoned critics as the country prepares to host the first European Games, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch released a new video on April 20, 2015, featuring prominent activists and journalists detained in the months leading up to the games.Azerbaijan will host the inaugural European Games, a multi-sport event for over 6,000 athletes, from June 12-28 in the capital, Baku.“With less than two months to go to the European Games, the spotlight is increasingly on Azerbaijan’s terrible human rights record and its political prosecutions of critics,” said Jane Buchanan, associate Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “This is a key moment for Azerbaijan’s partners, including the European Union, to call on Azerbaijan to release the critics it has thrown behind bars and end its crackdown.”European leaders should make clear they will not be sending high-level delegations to the games’ opening ceremonies unless people imprisoned for criticizing the government are freed and the government’s crackdown on independent groups and activists ends, Human Rights Watch said.
    For more information: http://www.hrw.org/news/2015/04/20/azerbaijan-release-activists-journalists-behind-bars
    Videos (1)
    2015ECA Azerbaijan European Games CLIPREEL-HI RES 16x9.mov