By Mina Muradova (the 08/01/2014 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On December 16, Anar Mammadli, a well-known elections watcher in Azerbaijan, was detained on charges of illegal business activity and tax evasion. However, human rights defenders believe that the pre-trial detention of Mammadli is politically motivated as a result of his critical reports on the October Presidential Elections in Azerbaijan. Mammadli is Chairman of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center (EMDC), which documented widespread electoral violations during the October presidential poll. Immediately after Ilham Aliyev was controversially re-elected for a third term, the authorities launched an investigation of EMDC.
- Azerbaijan