To beat or not to be?

A large group of the lawyers of Azerbaijan issued a statement expressing their indignation with physical pressure on the well-known lawyer, Aslan Ismaylov in the Main Department to Combat Organized Crime (MDCOC) of the Interior Ministry.

“The reaction of state to violence against those who protect the rights of people should be tough,” reads the statement sent to Turan agency. Violence against human rights defenders is a challenge to society and is to intimidate people.

MDCOC was previously mentioned in the reports of the OSCE, the Council of Europe, the UN, the State Department and international human rights organizations Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, as a place where people are tortured. After the presidential elections in 2003 this department tortured a large group of the opposition members, what was confirmed by the European Court of Human Rights.

The MDCOC tortured not only the accused, but also makes pressure on the defenders. Authors of the statement demand immediate dismissal from the law enforcement agencies the people that have had a physical pressure on Ismaylov and investigation facts of torture.

Lawyers demand to stop the involvement of law enforcement in the process of punishing opponents of the authorities and the persecution of political activists, human rights defenders and lawyers.

The appeal was signed by: Intiqam Aliyev, Fuad Agayev, Annagi Hajibayli, Adil Ismailov, Vidadi Mirkamal, Gurban Mammadov, Alesger Mammadov, Akif Alizadeh, Alovsat Aliyev, Rashid Hajily, Erkin Gadirli, Asabali Mustafaev, Eyub Kerimov, Yalcin Imanov, Anar Gasimly, Namizad Safarov, Alaif Hasanov, Elchin Namazov, Elchin Sadigov, Neymat Kerimli, Cavad Cavadov, Matlab Mutalimov, Fariz Namazly and Rasul Jafarov.

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