REAL BAKU 2015: Play and support human rights in Azerbaijan together with FIDH

On June 12-28, about 6,000 athletes from 50 participating countries will gather in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, to participate in the first European Games ever held on the continent. Meanwhile, dozens of political prisoners are kept in the prisons of Azerbaijan. Civl society activists, lawyers, human rights activists, journalists and political opponents are subjected to the most severe repression.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is trying to increase his prestige and mislead the international community about the true state of affairs. International human rights activists are using this time when the world's attention is drawn to Azerbaijan, to tell the public about the brutal human rights violations in that country.

In order to draw international attention to the arbitrary imprisonment of dozens of activists for the protection of the right to an independent opinion, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) presents an on-line game REAL BAKU 2015.

REAL BAKU 2015 is an interactive game application styled like the first computer games. It has French, English and Russian versions. The people are invited to participate in several sporting events, similar to the kinds of sports presented at the European Games. The peculiarity of the game is that the characters aren't sportsmen, but political prisoners. All five competitions – sprint running, boxing against one's own shadow, jumping on a mattress instead of the trampoline, "swimming" in the sink and pushing a lump of paper instead of the ball – are held in prison cells.

Let us remind that a week before the European Games the FIDH called the European governments to put the condition of the release of political prisoners for their participation in the opening ceremony. In April 2015 the organization published a report about the tightening repression in connection with the upcoming sports events and, as well as the growth of intolerance to any criticism or dissent.