Norway concerned over sentencing of Azerbaijani human rights lawyer

Intigam Aliyev has specialised in the areas of political freedoms and fundamental rights. For many years, he has been one of Azerbaijan’s leading human rights lawyers, and his work has included preparing cases for the European Court of Human Rights. As head and founder of the organisation Legal Education Society, he has also carried out important awareness-raising work about human rights and given specialist training to lawyers. Yesterday he was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. 

‘Less than a week has passed since the young pro-democracy activist Rasul Jafarov was given a prison sentence. This time, it is the turn of one of the country’s most senior and respected human rights lawyers. Intigam Aliyev has played an important role in Azerbaijan in the work to lay the foundations for a society based on the rule of law. The prison sentence he has been given is a serious setback for this work and for his country, which just a few months ago held the chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. Once again we strongly urge Azerbaijan to comply with its obligations to respect fundamental rights and freedoms,’ said Mr Brende.