The Azerbaijani government has renewed its vicious crackdown on critics and independent groups. The European Union and international financial institutions have a rare opportunity to insist on human rights reforms, as Azerbaijan actively seeks financial and other partnerships to offset a recent economic downturn, international organization Human Rights Watch said in a new 75-page report.

According to the report, the Azerbaijani government concerted efforts to undermine civil society.In 2016, the authorities used false, politically motivated criminal and administrative charges to prosecute political activists, journalists, and others.The government has built a restrictive legal and policy framework to paralyze the work of independent groups.Lawyers willing to defend critics have faced retaliation and disbarment. Although the authorities released several human rights defenders and others in early 2016, many others remain in prison or fled into exile.

“With the release of some wrongfully imprisoned activists earlier this year, there were high hopes that Azerbaijan was turning a corner,” said Giorgi Gogia, South Caucasus director at Human Rights Watch and author of the report. “But optimism is fading fast as the government relentlessly pursues critics and tries to shut down independent groups.”

Human Rights Watch interviewed more than 90 human rights defenders, leaders of independent organizations, journalists, lawyers, and political party activists.

It is reminded that in April 2015, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), which promotes government openness in natural resource development, downgraded Azerbaijan’s status in the group because of its crackdown on independent groups. However, it is highlighted in the report that the Azerbaijani government has not taken any meaningful steps to carry out the EITI requirements on civil society.

The government prosecuted at least 20 political and youth activists in 2016 on a range of spurious charges, including drug possession and illegal business activity. Officials also arrested activists for alleged links to FethullahGulen, the United States-based cleric whom Turkey accused of organizing the failed July coup attempt there. Authorities have ill-treated some detainees, including with beatings, rape threats, threats of violence against relatives, and solitary confinement to coerce confessions or as punishment.

Arrests in Azerbaijan increased sharply as activists and other citizens spoke out about the economic downturn, currency devaluation, and inflation in early 2016, and ahead of a September constitutional referendum that expanded presidential powers.

Azerbaijan’s authorities also regularly used questionable misdemeanor charges, such as “swearing in public” or “hooliganism,” to detain political activists, including peaceful demonstrators. Officials have often targeted activists using Facebook and other social media to criticize government policies or support peaceful protests.

Among those detained were two youth activists, GiyasIbrahimov and BayramMammadov, who were arrested in May for painting graffiti on a statue of former President Heydar Aliyev. Police ordered the men to apologize on camera in exchange for their release. When they refused, police beat them and threatened to rape them. The men finally signed confessions falsely admitting to drug possession and face up to 12 years in prison.

The Azerbaijani government has also made it virtually impossible for independent groups to function. Laws and regulations adopted since 2014 require both donors and grantees to separately obtain government approval of each potential grant. The authorities have broad discretion to deny grant approvals. A foreign donor organization now must also register an office in Azerbaijan and receive government approval to make grants.Numerous activists interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported closing their organizations or severely reducing staff and programming as a result of the government’s policies.

Summing up, the authors of the report highlight that the EU and the US should impose visa bans on senior officials responsible for the unjust prosecution and imprisonment of critics as retaliation for peacefully exercising their rights.

In the World Report 2016, Giorgi Gogia, South Caucasus director at Human Rights Watch, said that the government’s crackdown in Azerbaijan is unprecedented in the country’s post-Soviet history, and that although the government is opening the country for international sporting and other events, it is closing the country to human rights scrutiny.