Azerbaijani authorities arrested numerous opposition activists and leaders on spurious criminal charges following a July 14, 2020 unsanctioned rally in Baku, Human Rights Watch said today. Thousands of people gathered that day to support the country’s armed forces amid an escalation of military tensions with neighboring Armenia. The charges range from violating lockdown rules related to the Covid-19 pandemic to destruction of property and an attempted coup.
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The approval of COVID-19 vaccines has raised hopes that the “new normal” of a post-pandemic world will start to emerge in 2021.
But international rights groups say civil society must be able to return to its “normal” pre-pandemic role to prevent a permanent expansion of overreaching government power.
They argue that civil society must provide checks and balances to ensure the rollback of temporary, emergency public-health measures imposed and sometimes misused during 2020.
Transparency International has long warned about “worrying signs that the pandemic will leave in its wake increased authoritarianism and weakened rule of law.”
“The COVID-19 crisis has offered corrupt and authoritarian leaders a dangerous combination of public distraction and reduced oversight,” the global anti-corruption group says.