The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Dunja Mijatović, sent a letter to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan expressing concern over human rights violations during the dispersal of an environmental protest in the village of Soyudlu, as well as intimidation, arrests of protesters, and restrictions on journalists’ access.
On July 20, the Azerbaijani representative to the Council of Europe responded, requesting the letter to be published if the original letter was published. In the response, Azerbaijan shifted blame onto Russia, claiming that 118 out of 2067 residents of Soyudlu work for the “Azerbaijani International Mining Company” and receive high salaries.
However, it was revealed that several individuals of Azerbaijani origin, residing in Russia, enticed 409 villagers of Soyudlu in February 2023 through a WhatsApp group to participate in mass protests and actively resist state institutions. To prolong and intensify the process, these individuals prepared various protest placards in Ganja and distributed them among the village’s residents for use during the unrest. They also provided seven mobile phones to record protest videos and directed journalists with radical views to the scene.
This information sheds light on the plight of the people in Baku’s republic, as well as the fate of any ecologist in Azerbaijan who dares to stand up for the environment or oppose the government’s plans, even if it involves condemning 120,000 people in Artsakh to starvation or interfering with construction projects in Armenia.
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