Representatives of the civil sector of Azerbaijan – lawyers, journalists, heads of NGOs held a zoom conference on the problem of protecting human rights in the country. The focus of the conference was the situation around the citizen Saleh Rustamov, who had declared a hunger strike in prison, and the politician Tofig Yagubla, beaten to a pulp by the police on December 1.

The conference participants discussed ways of organizing resistance to the strengthening of authoritarianism in the country and violence by law enforcement agencies against public figures and citizens in general, the transformation of law enforcement agencies into repressive structures of suppression of society.

In general, all participants in the virtual meeting were inclined to the idea of consolidating efforts within a single initiative. It can be a permanent structure that investigates human rights violations and prepares reports for the local and international community. The main goal of such work is to invite the authorities to fulfill their constitutional obligations to the people in the field of protecting human rights and freedoms.

The organizer of the conference, the head of the Institute for Democratic Initiatives, Akif Gurbanov, proposed creating a group of lawyers to investigate and record violations. It was also proposed to strengthen work with international structures in order to improve the situation in the field of freedom and human rights. — 0—

Source: Turan News Agency