10 March 2011, 22:50
AHRH de-registered in Baku
Today, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has annulled registration of the Azerbaijani Human Rights House (AHRH), which is a representative office of the Norwegian Human Rights Foundation.
The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by rights defender Emin Guseinov, director of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS), that Shakhla Ismailov, former director of the AHRH, whose home address was used as the legal address of the House, was invited today to the MoJ.
According to Mr Guseinov, the Ministry stated that since the AHRH is a subdivision of a foreign NGO, after 2 years of operation it was to notify the MoJ about continuation of its activities. Since no notification followed, the registration was cancelled.
This information was also confirmed by Ane Tusvik Bonde, regional programme manager for Eastern Europe and the Caucasus of the Norwegian Foundation "Human Rights House". Emin Guseinov said that he had received a respective SMS-message from her from Norway.
Since the working day was over, it proved impossible to get any comments from the Ministry of Justice of Azerbaijan.
Author: Faik Medzhid Source: CK correspondent
