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“The Azerbaijani authorities must immediately review the prison sentence of Tofig Yagublu with a view to his immediate and unconditional release. Tofig Yagublu is a prisoner of conscience, and his conviction is yet another example of the government’s crackdown on political opposition and freedom of speech,” said Natalya Nozadze, Amnesty International’s South Caucasus researcher.
“Tofig Yagublu has been persecuted for many years for daring to oppose the rule of President Ilham Aliyev,” she added.
Yagublu was detained in March 2020, a few days after President Aliyev had “isolated” opposition leaders as part of the fight against the spread of COVID-19.
This performance led to the arrests of several dozen opposition leaders and activists on trumped-up charges.
Yagublu’s verdict was also condemned by the CoE Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic
“The verdict on Tofig Yagublu once again testifies to the need to take serious measures in Azerbaijan to ensure freedom of speech and expression, the rights to freedom and security and fair justice,” she wrote in her micro blog on Twitter.[:]
