The National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF) issued a statement on 18 December calling on "international organisations and the democratic world" to impose targeted sanctions against the ruling regime in Azerbaijan over political repression, Azerbaijani media reports.
In the statement, the NCDF cited "groundless accusations" and arrests of political opponents of the regime, prominent pro-democracy activists Gubad Ibadoglu, Tofig Yagublu and others.
By stepping up repression, the authorities are trying to "insure themselves against geopolitical and internal dangers against the background of the social situation in the country, which is deteriorating day by day" and the worsening economic crisis.
In addition, "the whole region" has been swept up by the "European integration movement", which the authorities also fear.
"In any case, it is futile and harmful to push our state with a hundred-year tradition of democracy towards the East for the sake of preserving family power," the statement said.
The authors of the statement called on the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately release Tofig Yagublu, Gubad Ibadoglu, journalists Hafiz Babaly, Sevinj Vagifgyzy, Ulvi Hasanli and other political prisoners.
"We call on international organisations and the democratic world not to remain indifferent to the anti-human actions of the repressive regime rampant in Azerbaijan and to impose targeted sanctions against the ruling regime, which has become an enemy of human rights and freedoms," the statement said.
