Claim for the arrest of Human Rights defenders in Azerbaijan

In a letter to the Director of Human Rights of the Foreign Ministry of Argentina, Federico Villegas Beltrán, CADAL requested that the Argentinian embassy in Azerbaijanutters a word of protest because of the arrest of Human Rights defenders in that country and thus join the claim of our Swedish colleagues of Civil Rights Defenders.

In a letter to the Director of Human Rights of the Foreign Ministry of Argentina, Federico Villegas Beltrán, CADAL requested that the Argentinian embassy in Azerbaijanutters a word of protest because of the arrest of Human Rights defenders in that country and thus join the claim of our Swedish colleagues of Civil Rights Defenders.

The petitionof Civil Rights Defenders, addressed to the Azerbaijani authorities, expresses " our deepest concern over the recent arrests of at least four human rights defenders: RasulJafarov, IntigamAliyev, Leyla Yunus and her husband Arif Yunusov. We view these arrests as one more sign of the deteriorating human rights situation in your country. Azerbaijan is party to the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees freedom of expression and freedom of association. Therefore, we call on you to immediately release all four of these human rights defenders".

CADAL reminded Villegas Beltránthat both he and the Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman know well, from the Argentinian history, that foreign intervention of democratic countries because of Human Rights violations is an important gesture to protect those who are politically persecuted.