Human Rights Commissioner Defends Religious Freedom Record

(Forum 18) – Azerbaijan ‘s human rights commissioner, or ombudsperson, Elmira Suleymanova, has repeatedly refused to recognise religious freedom violations – such as police raids on religious minorities and compulsory religious censorship – as human rights violations. Talking to Forum 18 News Service, Suleymanova categorically denied that there are frequent raids. Forum 18 has documented such raids. “This view is completely at variance with reality and constitutes untrue information,” she claimed.