The EP adopted a resolution on 18 September condemning the persecution of Human Rights Defenders in Azerbaijan. It includes several individual cases put forward by FIDH, such as Leyla Yunus, Rasul Jafarov and Intigam Aliyev, and demands “their immediate and unconditional release as well as the withdrawal of all charges against them”. The EP further called on the Azerbaijan authorities “to cease their harassment and intimidation of civil society organisations, opposition politicians and independent journalists”.
FIDH had been mobilized on these cases, issuing several urgent appeals from the Observatory concerning Leyla Yunus and Ilqar Nasibov. FIDH also urged the European Parliament, ahead of the Plenary, to call on the Azeri authorities to guarantee their physical and psychological integrity and release them immediately and unconditionally.