The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) has strongly condemned the persecution and imprisonment of communists and other political activists in Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, raising the issue before the European Commission through a parliamentary question submitted by KKE MEP Kostas Papadakis.
In Uzbekistan, journalist Aziz Khakimov was sentenced to four years and two months in prison on charges of “inciting hatred” after opposing legislation aimed at banning communist ideology and the rehabilitation of participants in the Islamist armed movement of the 1920s–1940s.
According to the KKE, his trial was held behind closed doors, with journalists excluded and case documents classified, raising serious concerns about politically motivated prosecution.
In Azerbaijan, four young men were imprisoned simply for publicly displaying Soviet flags. Ibrahim Asadli and Abdullah Ibrahimli received two-year prison sentences, while Elchin Bayramli and Mehman Zeynalov were sentenced to 18 months each.
The KKE also denounced similar prosecutions of journalists in Kazakhstan who oppose the falsification of history, warning of a broader pattern of anti-communist repression in countries belonging to the Organization of Turkic States.
Through its parliamentary intervention, the KKE demanded that the European Commission clarify its position on these violations of political rights and freedoms, particularly as the EU strengthens economic, diplomatic and military relations with the countries concerned.
The Greek communists called for the immediate release of political prisoners in Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan and an end to the persecution of communists and other activists defending the Soviet Union and historical truth.
From In Defense of Communism via This RSS Feed.