Germany’s Merkel, Gauck refuse to visit Baku over political prisoners

PanARMENIAN.Net - German leadership and government members will not attend the opening ceremony of the European Games in Baku on June 12. The cancellation is caused by a protest against the fact that there are over 100 political prisoners in Azerbaijan, including opposition activists, journalists and human rights defenders, Panorama.am reports citing German newspaper DerTagesspiegel.

According to the article published at DerTagesspiegel, German Chancellor Angela Merkel won’t be travelling to Baku. The Minister of the Interior, Thomas de Maizière who supervises sports sector has also turned down the trip, with Joachim Gauck, the President of Germany to stay in Berlin on June 12.

DerTagesspiegel further notes that the Azeri ruling regime has recently intensified the crackdowns. The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders said that the laters are relentlessly prosecuted and repressed in Azerbaijan. “During President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Berlin in February, Merkel said that she disagreed with Ilham Aliyev regarding the human rights situation in the country,” the author of the article Claudia von Salzen notes.

She further says that there are over 100 opposition activists, journalists and human rights defenders in Azerbaijani jail. Well-known activist Rasul Jafarov, who tried to draw attention to human rights situation his country ahead of the European Games, is among them.

The newspaper points that the Chancellor, the Minister of the Interior and the President normally attend events of such level.

According to Turan agency, another influential German outlet Frankfurter Allgemeine reported that the German athletes urged for the release of the political prisoners in Azerbaijan. By this, they supported the call of the Council of Europe Commissioner Nils Muižnieks, UN special rapporteur Michel Forst, and OSCE special representative Dunja Mijatović.

The author of the article, Christoph Becker, notes that Christian Schreiber from the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) told the newspaper that respect for the fundamental human rights and the right for criticism is vital. “We join UN envoy’s call on all the countries to respect those rights,” he stressed.

According to the article, Michael Vesper from DOSB also endorsed UN rapporteur’s call.

In June, Azerbaijan will host the first ever European Games, with Formula 1 Grand Prixto be held in 2016. According to the international rights groups, the Azerbaijani authorities have intensified the crackdowns against the dissidents so that nothing can overshadow the two huge sport events to be hosted. The European Games will cost several billion dollars. Demolition of a large number of houses started in 2014 in Baku in the framework of the preparatory works for the Games.