Brussels, 11/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - In a press release on 9 February, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton and European Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Füle urged Azerbaijan to ensure a “speedy, fair, transparent and independent” investigation into the charges against the newspaper columnist and deputy chairman of the opposition party Musavat, Tofig Yagublu, and the leader and presidential candidate of the Republican Alternative party, Ilgar Mammadov. Ashton and Füle called on the Azeri authorities to refrain from further “hindering journalists and political activists who seek to exercise their fundamental rights and freedoms”. Accused of organising disruption in the city of Ismayilli, Yagublu and Mammadov were arrested on 4 February and their two month pre-trial detention was confirmed by an appeal court in Baku on 8 February. The decision not to release them and the appeal court's refusal to allow the Council of Europe's high representative to be present during the court proceedings “is of particular gravity”, said Thorbjorn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, in another press release on 8 February.
Ashton and Füle also “invite” Azerbaijan to review urgently the charges imposed against participants in a peaceful solidarity demonstration held in Baku on 26 January, and to ensure that existing allegations of ill-treatment of detainees participating in that demonstration and the protests in Ismayilli are credibly investigated, and that detention conditions are guaranteed for those under arrest. Jagland expressed his concern at the “heavy-handed response of the police to the protests”.
Jagland called on the Azeri authorities to respect the fundamental principles and legally binding standards of the European Convention of Human Rights. (CG/transl.fl)