Head of Helsinki Commission calls on Azeri authorities to liberate political prisoners

Christopher Smith, the Chairman of the Helsinki Commission of the US Congress, has urged the Azerbaijani authorities to cancel the recent amendments, which introduced stricter penalties for insulting and slandering the country's president on the Internet, as well as the release political prisoners.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 29 the Azerbaijani Parliament adopted the amendments to the Criminal Code, which toughen the penalties for the libel and insults on the Internet.

"There is no doubt that the persons, detained under the new provisions of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan, under which insulting the President online entails criminal liability, will be political prisoners," said the Congressman Christopher Smith.

In his opinion, the new provisions "are clearly violating the international human rights standards and Azerbaijan's commitments to the OSCE."

After the appearance of the bill "Act in Support of Democracy" in Azerbaijan, the authorities took certain steps, in particular, on the eve of President Ilham Aliev's visit to the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington in late March-early April, said Elshan Gasanov the head of the Centre for Monitoring Political Prisoners.

However, according to his story, there is no real ease for the activities of the civil society; and independent NGOs are deprived of sources of funding.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.