The Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety cordially invites you to a side event: Azerbaijan’s Kleptocracy, Repression and Council of Europe Membership.

Tuesday 22 January, 13:00-14:00

Venue: Room 11, Palais de L’Europe

Today, the Council of Europe member states Azerbaijan and Russia are more repressive than they have ever been in the post-Soviet era. At the same time, Danske Bank’s Estonia branch has been involved in three international money laundering schemes: the “Russian Laundromat,” the “Azerbaijani Laundromat,” and what it calls “Hermitage Capital Management.” » » » »

(Znotins/AFP/Getty Images)
Washingtonpost: MEHMAN HUSEYNOV is a blogger, an activist for a free press and a journalist who has exposed uncomfortable truths about the rulers of Azerbaijan, including official corruption and police brutality. For almost two years, he has been imprisoned on bogus charges. As the end of his term approaches, the Azerbaijani police state has cooked up new charges to keep him in jail five to seven more years. Mr. Huseynov has gone on a hunger strike to protest. He must be freed and this travesty ended. » » » »

Turan: The co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of Azerbaijan, Sir Roger Gale (United Kingdom, EC) and Stefan Schennach (Austria, SOC) have expressed their deep concern at the new charges brought against an anti-corruption Azerbaijani blogger and Chairman of the Institute for Reporters` Freedom and Safety (IRFS), Mehman Huseynov, who is currently serving the remaining two months of his two-year prison sentence. It is reported by PACE. » » » »

Turan: US Senator Marco Rubio called on official Baku to immediately release blogger Mehman Huseynov.

“Azerbaijani blogger Mehman Huseynov remains imprisoned on a trumped-up charge. Now he is in a critical situation due to a hunger strike. The government of Azerbaijan should release him immediately,” the senator wrote in his blog on Twitter.

Recall that Huseynov continues his hunger strike for the 10th day in connection with a new case brought against him about alleged resistance to the warden in the prison, where he is serving a two-year term on defamation charges against the police. » » » »

Late in the evening, the health condition of the blogger Mehman Huseynov, who was conducting a hunger strike on December 26, deteriorated sharply in the Baku SIZO-1 facility, and he was urgently sent to a prison hospital. This was announced by journalist Natig Adilov living abroad, citing sources in the Prison Service.
It was not possible to receive comments in official bodies due to the late hours of the day. » » » »