YEREVAN, 4 MARCH, ARMENPRESS. The human rights crisis in Azerbaijan is overshadowing the European Games to be held in Baku in June 2015. Human Rights Watch demands that the Azerbaijani government immediately release all wrongly detained activists and journalists 100 days before the first European Games begin. 

“As the first country to hold this new major European sporting event, Azerbaijan is looking to project a progressive, modern image internationally. If the European Games are to show that sport can leave a positive legacy, then every journalist and activist detained on politically motivated charges in Azerbaijan should be released well before the opening ceremony,” said Jane Buchanan, associate Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch, as “Armenpress” reports.

Human Rights Watch calls on European leaders to convey to Baku that they will not send high-level delegations to the opening ceremony unless those wrongly imprisoned are released and the crackdown on dissent ends.