Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Transparency International and more than 10 other human rights organizations published a joint statement on the anniversary of the arrest of the Azerbaijani economist and opposition politician Gubad Ibadoglu. The authors of the text called on the Azerbaijani authorities to release political prisoners.

“We strongly condemn the ongoing repression of civil society in Azerbaijan, which targets a wide range of people, including human rights defenders, journalists, members of the political opposition and leaders of non-governmental organizations. In particular, we call for the release of Dr. Gubad Ibadoglu, who was brutally and unjustly arrested a year ago,” the statement said.

Earlier, 240 international organizations, scientists and human rights activists, as well as politicians from the United States and European countries asked for the release of Gubad Ibadoglu. He was arrested on July 23 last year, and on April 22 of this year he was released from the pre-trial detention center: the preventive measure was replaced with house arrest.

Gubad Ibadoglu was arrested on charges of selling counterfeit money, as well as under the article of distributing extremist materials. He rejected all the arguments of the investigation and stated that his arrest was a political order.