Federal Lezghi
National and Cultural Autonomy

 

Ambassador Janez Lenarčič, Director of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), has condemned the conviction of Anar Mamedli, the head of the Centre for Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies (EMDC), to 5.5 years in prison. In this context, Mr Lenarčič has expressed his concern about the state of things with fundamental rights and freedoms in Azerbaijan.

"After an authorities' concerted campaign of harassment and intimidation of Anar Mamedli and his organisation engaged in observing elections, I have no doubt that his conviction and sentencing are at preventing the activist's work aimed at defending voters' rights," says Janez Lenarčič's statement posted on the website of the OSCE in the evening on May 27.

In his opinion, this sentence, and others of the like, is a warning aimed to silence other activists in Azerbaijan, engaged in defence of human rights and freedoms, although the country had taken international obligations to promote them.