Jury

Rasul Jafarov

Rasul Jafarov is Chairman of the Human Rights Club (HRC), a Baku-based non-governmental organisation focusing on the promotion and protection of fundamental political & civic freedoms and democratic development. Due to the difficulties in operating independent NGOs in Azerbaijan, he conducts his activities on an individual basis. He is presents the current problems in the field of human rights to the local and international community via various campaigns. Sing for Democracy, Online Expression Initiative, Art for Democracy, the Working Group on Unified List of Political Prisoners are among these activities. Jafarov was arrested on politically motivated and thus fabricated charges on 2 August 2014 for his activities and criticism of the government. All the charges brought against him were connected to the HRC’s activities between 2010 and 2014. Amnesty International recognised Jafarov as a ‘prisoner of conscience’. On 17 March 2016, the European Court of Human Rights issued a Judgment recognising violation of Jafarov’s right to liberty and prohibiting the abuse of rights by the state, therefore indicating that the detention was illegal and politically motivated. On the same day Jafarov was released.