Human Rights Watch calls for confirming suspension of Azerbaijan`s  PACE credentials at Winter session 2025

ArmInfo. Human Rights Watch and a number of other human rights organizations have addressed a  joint letter containing an urgent call to confirm the suspension of Azerbaijan's PACE credentials at Winter session 2025. 

Dear Members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe,

We, the undersigned organizations, once again urge the Parliamentary  Assembly to confirm the suspension of Azerbaijan's credentials at the  January 2025 session and develop clear and measurable benchmarks for  their restoration. Azerbaijan's escalating repression of civil  society, independent media, and political dissent continues to  violate the principles and values of the Council of Europe (CoE).

Azerbaijan shows a persistent lack of cooperation with international  mechanisms and fails to address systemic human rights abuses. As PACE  recognized in autumn 2024, the human rights situation is  deteriorating and repression has intensified. In retaliation for  their criticism of Azerbaijan's human rights record, the authorities  banned a group of PACE members from entering the country. In July,  the CoE's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or  Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) took the "exceptional  decision" to make a public statement concerning Azerbaijan, citing  the government's "outright refusal" to cooperate with the Committee  and severe and systematic issues related to the treatment of people  in police custody. Azerbaijan has one of the worst records among CoE  member states on implementation of the European Court of Human Rights  (ECtHR) judgments: The Mammadli group of cases and Ramazanova group  of cases, representing a pattern of government assault on civic space  and human rights defenders, remain essentially unimplemented to this  day.

Since November 2023 and ahead of and after COP29 in November 2024,  the Azerbaijani authorities have intensified their crackdown on  dissent, targeting civil society, journalists, and activists with  politically motivated arrests on fabricated charges. Many of those  arrested complain about ill-treatment in custody.

For details follow links: 

https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/01/21/joint-letter-urgent-call-confirm-suspension-azerbaijans-pace- credentials- winter?fbclid=IwY2xjawIAG1JleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHbMbCgweqhzPuOWD91AwUeMiuK2Wqon5rlu 2TvVT6evUBz5kfJdAfGwAsA_aem_a1UOWVu0Ji-CrsyAhEALdw

https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/media_2025/01/Jan%2021%20Joint%20Azerbaijan%20Letter_PAC E.pdf