VOA常速英语:U.S. Troubled by Arrests in Azerbaijan(翻译)

The United States is troubled by the August 12th arrest of Azerbaijani opposition activist Natig Jafarli,the executive secretary of the opposition REAL Movement.
美国现在十分困扰，因为8月12日阿塞拜疆反对派激进分子Natig Jafarli被逮捕，Natig Jafarli是反对派REAL运动的执行秘书。

The United States is also troubled by the arrests of additional activists.The activists who have been arrested are secular democratic opposition figures,though the authorities are citing alleged ties to Muslim cleric Fetullah Gulen to justify some of these arrests.The arrests come ahead of a national referendum on amendments to the constitution.The proposed amendments would lengthen the presidential term from five to seven years and introduce the posts of first vice president and vice president,which would be appointed rather than elected.Other proposed changes relate to restricting certain fundamental freedoms in vaguely defined circumstances.
美国还有一个困扰，原因是也有其他一些激进分子被逮捕。这些被逮捕的激进分子属民主反对派人物，尽管当局引用了与穆斯林传教士Fetullah Gulen的所谓关系，以替其中一些人进行辩护。逮捕发生在宪法修订案公民投票之前。拟议修订案内容将延长总统任期，时间从之前的5年延长到7年，修订案还将介绍第一副总统和副总统的职位，这两个职位的人选都将被直接任命而非选举产生。除上述内容之外，修订案中还有一些改革提案，涉及在界定模糊的情况下限制某些基本自由。

The United States urges the government of Azerbaijan to submit the constitutional amendments for a joint Venice Commission and Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights opinion.
美国敦促阿塞拜疆政府尽快将宪法修正案提交给威尼斯民主制度和人权委员会及办公室，以寻求意见。

The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention visited Azerbaijan in May. In a statement they said that they “hold the view that human rights defenders, ournalists, political and religious leaders continue to be detained under criminal or administrative charges as a way to impair the exercise of their basic human rights and fundamental freedoms and to silence them.”
联合国任意拘禁工作组5月份造访了阿塞拜疆，在一份声明中，工作组表示阿塞拜疆政府“持有如下观点，即人权捍卫者、记者、政治和宗教领导人应继续以刑事或行政指控的名义被扣押，从而削弱他们的能力，使他们不能再行使基本人权，也不能享受基本自由，并让他们保持缄默。”

The United States, said State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner,“urge(s) the Azerbaijani government to release these and other activists incarcerated in connection with exercising their fundamental freedoms,to respect the fundamental freedoms of its citizens,and to allow an open and public dialogue about the direction of the country,particularly in the run-up to the planned September 26th constitutional amendment referendum.”
国务院副发言人马克·唐纳称，美国“敦促阿塞拜疆政府释放这些以及其他激进主义分子，这些人之所以被逮捕，与他们行使基本自由的权利有关；阿塞拜疆应该尊重国民的基本自由，允许开放的公众对话，谈论有关国家发展方向的问题，尤其是在宪法修订案公民投票的预备阶段，根据计划，该投票将于9月26日举行。”