Germany/Azerbaijan: Merkel Should Press Aliyev for Rights
(Berlin) – Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel should urge president Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan to free leading human rights defenders, journalists, and other government critics jailed unjustly in Azerbaijan, Human Rights Watch said today. Merkel is scheduled to meet Aliyev in Berlin on January 21, 2015, to discuss bilateral relations, energy policy, and other issues.
In a staggering crackdown on critical voices, Azerbaijani authorities arrested and imprisoned more than 30 government critics in 2014 alone. The country has also adopted legislative changes and other restrictive measures to virtually close space for independent groups.
© 2010 Reuters
“Merkel should not miss this opportunity to urge Azerbaijan’s president, in public and in private, to end this attack on human rights” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The charges against these activists are politically motivated. Merkel could make a difference in securing their freedom.”
Over the past year, the Azerbaijani government used a range of bogus criminal charges, including narcotics and weapons possession, tax evasion, hooliganism, incitement, and even treason, to convict or imprison at least 34 human rights defenders, political and civil activists, journalists, and bloggers, prompting others to flee the country or go into hiding.
Following prosecutors’ requests, courts have frozen the bank accounts of at least 50 nongovernmental groups and in some cases accounts of staff, as part of ongoing criminal investigations against several foreign donors. As a result, at least three of the country’s most established human rights groups have been forced to close, and numerous others had to halt operations.
Against the backdrop of the increasing crackdown, Azerbaijan is preparing to host the first European Games, a mega-sporting event intended to boost the country’s international image. This multi-discipline competition involving national teams from European countries will be staged for the first time this year, in Baku from June 12 to 28.
Merkel should make clear that Germany will not send a high-level government delegation to the European Games unless activists behind bars are freed, Human Rights Watch said.
Among others, Merkel should call for the immediate release of the following people:
Leyla Yunus, director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, and her husband, Arif Yunus, a prominent historian, who have been charged with treason, tax evasion, and illegal entrepreneurship. Neither Leyla nor Arif have been questioned since their arrest in early August, highlighting the punitive nature of their detention.
Rasul Jafarov, Human Rights Club director and Intigam Aliyev, head of the Legal Education Society; both were arrested in August and charged with tax evasion, illegal entrepreneurship, and abuse of authority. Intigam Aliyev’s group had helped hundreds of Azerbaijanis bring cases to the European Court of Human Rights. Rasul Jafarov has spearheaded several critical campaigns against politically motivated prosecutions in Azerbaijan, including the “Sing for Democracy” campaign in the lead up to the Eurovision Song Contest in May 2012.
Khadija Ismayilova, Azerbaijan’s most high-profile investigative journalist, who had extensively reported on corruption at the highest level of government, was arrested on December 5, 2014. She is in pretrial custody, pending investigation on questionable charges of allegedly driving an ex-boyfriend to attempt suicide. In recent years she was frequently harassed by the authorities. The media outlet she worked for, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was raided and closed by the prosecutor’s office in December.
Anar Mammadli, chairman of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center, an independent election-monitoring group, sentenced to five and a half years in prison in May 2014, on charges of tax evasion and abuse of office. The center had monitored the October 2013 presidential vote and concluded that it was neither free nor fair.
Ilgar Mammadov, a prominent political analyst and opposition party leader, sentenced in March 2014, to seven years in prison, on dubious charges of inciting violence. In May, the European Court of Human Rights found that the authorities had arrested Mammadov “to silence or punish [him] for criticizing the government.” He remains behind bars.
“President Aliyev is seeking a greater legitimacy by meeting the world leaders and hosting mega sporting events,” Williamson said. “Merkel should send a clear message that closer political and economic ties with Europe are directly linked to Azerbaijan’s release of unjustly jailed journalists and human rights advocates and respect for fundamental human rights.”
Madam Chancellor: Tell Aliyev to respect civil society
By Index on Censorship / 21 January, 2015
Chancellor Angela Merkel
Bundeskanzleramt
Willy-Brandt-Straße 1
10557 Berlin
Madam Chancellor,
As members of the international NGO coalition ‘Sport for Rights’ we are appealing to you to make human rights a central subject in your meeting next Wednesday, 21 January 2015, with president Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan.
In recent years, space for political activity and for civil society and journalism in Azerbaijan has gradually been curtailed, and the last six months in particular have witnessed a severe and unprecedented crackdown, with dozens of civil society activists and journalists serving or awaiting sentencing. The country’s most prominent investigative journalist and a number of leading human rights defenders are in prison, punished for their criticism of government policies. Sham charges such as ‘tax evasion’ are used to justify the criminalization of fundamental rights and freedoms.
The ‘Sport for Rights’ coalition has been established to raise this issue in the context of the forthcoming international sporting events to be hosted by Azerbaijan. Against a backdrop of systematic state-sponsored repression, these events will fail to reflect the spirit in which they were established. The next major sporting event is the Baku European Games, designed and regulated by the European Olympic Committees, scheduled for June 2015. A policy shift by the Azerbaijan towards an open society is urgently required if these Games are to be a success. Human rights defenders and journalists must be released, and we urge you to emphasize this point in your conversations with President Aliyev.
This issue is all the more important given that Azerbaijan is a member of the European community of nations: the country is a member of the Council of Europe (CoE), and part of the EU’s Eastern Partnership Initiative. By ratifying the European Human Rights Convention, Azerbaijan has made a commitment under international law to respect the fundamental freedoms contained therein. CoE officials have repeatedly called attention to Azerbaijan’s failure to uphold these freedoms for its citizens. In his retrospective on 2014, Nils Muiznieks, the CoE Human Rights Commissioner, declared:
One of the most difficult situations I have observed is in Azerbaijan, where the authorities are engaging in a systematic crackdown on human rights defenders, media professionals and civil society partners of the Council of Europe. The number of those in detention there or in exile continues to grow.
President Aliyev may point to token releases that take place from time to time – but please remember that not only are these rare, they are issued only after innocent people have served time in prison, losing months and years of their lives for exercising their basic rights to freedom of expression and association.
Among those unjustly arrested or convicted in 2014 are:
Anar Mammadli and Bashir Suleymanli, co-founders of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre – Mammadli and Suleymanli were arrested on 16 December 2013 and then sentenced to 5.5 and 3.5 years respectively in May 2014, following outspoken criticism of Azerbaijan’s presidential elections in October 2013. On 29 September 2014, Mammadli was awarded the Václav Havel Award for Human Rights by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
Leyla Yunus, Director of the Azerbaijan Institute of Peace and Democracy – Yunus was arrested on 30 July2014, and has remained in pre-trial detention since then, despite serious concerns about her health. She was awardedthe 2013 Theodore Hecker Award in Esslingen-am-Neckar “for her self-sacrificing contribution to the protection of human rights and civil freedoms in Azerbaijan.” Her husband Arif Yunus, Head of the Department of Conflict and Migration Institute of Peace and Democracy in Azerbaijan, Ph.D., a historian specializing in conflict studies, was arrested on 6 August 2014.
Rasul Jafarov, one of the initiators and coordinators of the “Sing for Democracy” (2012) and “Art for Democracy” (2013) campaigns – Jafarov was arrested on 2 August2014 and has remained in detention since. His trial began on 15 January 2015.
Intigam Aliyev, human rights defender and lawyer – Aliyev was has been in detention since his arrest 8 August 2014. In his capacity as a lawyer he has specialized in defending rights of citizens in the European Court of Human Rights. At the time of his arrest, he was dealing with over 100 cases pending before the Court.
Khadija Ismayilova, investigative journalist; radio host for Radio Free Europe/Radio LibertyAzerbaijani service; member of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project – Ismayilova was arrested on 5 December 2014.
We ask you to unequivocally remind Azerbaijan of its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights. Azerbaijan’s partners should insist that this terrible stainon the country’s human rights record is removed before Baku plays host to the European Games, and that these people be released immediately and unconditionally. Full execution of European Court of Human Rights should also be requested from Azerbaijan in this regard, aiming at amending legislation criminalising human rights defenders in line also with recommendations of the CoE Venice Commission.
We sincerely hope that we can count on your principled leadership on this urgentmatter. We thank you for your attention to the concerns set forth herein.
NGO coalition “Sport for Rights”, including:
Centre for Civil Liberties (Ukraine)
Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (Poland)
Index on Censorship (Great Britain)
International Partnership for Human Rights (Belgium)
Netherlands Helsinki Committee (The Netherlands)
Norwegian Helsinki Committee (Norway)
People in Need (Czech Republic)
Platform (Great Britain)
Youaid Foundation (Poland)
A group of civil society activists from Azerbaijan who wish to remain anonymous out
of concern for the security of their family members