{"id":1226,"date":"2015-01-20T12:37:42","date_gmt":"2015-01-20T12:37:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/?p=1226"},"modified":"2015-01-21T12:46:39","modified_gmt":"2015-01-21T12:46:39","slug":"hrw-index-on-censorship-call-merkel-to-put-pressure-on-aliyev","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/?p=1226","title":{"rendered":"HRW, Index on Censorship Call Merkel to Put Pressure on Aliyev"},"content":{"rendered":"

Germany\/Azerbaijan: Merkel Should Press Aliyev for Rights<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Berlin) \u2013 Germany\u2019s chancellor Angela Merkel should urge president Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

In a staggering crackdown<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

\"German<\/a>
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev address a news conference before talks in Berlin, February 4, 2010.
\u00a9 2010 Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMerkel should not miss this opportunity to urge Azerbaijan\u2019s president, in public and in private, to end this attack on human rights\u201d said Hugh Williamson<\/a>, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. \u201cThe charges against these activists are politically motivated. Merkel could make a difference in securing their freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Following prosecutors\u2019 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\u2019s most established human rights groups have been forced to close, and numerous others had to halt operations.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Among others, Merkel should call for the immediate release of the following people:<\/p>\n

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<\/a>, highlighting the punitive nature of their detention.
\nRasul 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<\/a>\u2019s group had helped hundreds of Azerbaijanis bring cases to the European Court of Human Rights. Rasul Jafarov<\/a> has spearheaded several critical campaigns against politically motivated prosecutions in Azerbaijan, including the \u201cSing for Democracy\u201d campaign in the lead up to the Eurovision Song Contest in May 2012.
\nKhadija Ismayilova, Azerbaijan\u2019s most high-profile investigative journalist, who had extensively reported on corruption at the highest level of government, was arrested on December 5<\/a>, 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\u2019s office in December.
\nAnar 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<\/a>, 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.
\nIlgar Mammadov, a prominent political analyst and opposition party leader, sentenced in March 2014<\/a>, 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 \u201cto silence or punish [him] for criticizing the government.\u201d He remains behind bars.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Aliyev is seeking a greater legitimacy by meeting the world leaders and hosting mega sporting events,\u201d Williamson said. \u201cMerkel should send a clear message that closer political and economic ties with Europe are directly linked to Azerbaijan\u2019s release of unjustly jailed journalists and human rights advocates and respect for fundamental human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Madam Chancellor: Tell Aliyev to respect civil society <\/strong><\/p>\n

By Index on Censorship \/ 21 January, 2015<\/p>\n

Chancellor Angela Merkel<\/p>\n

Bundeskanzleramt<\/p>\n

Willy-Brandt-Stra\u00dfe 1<\/p>\n

10557 Berlin<\/p>\n

Madam Chancellor,<\/p>\n

As members of the international NGO coalition \u2018Sport for Rights\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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 \u2018tax evasion\u2019 are used to justify the criminalization of fundamental rights and freedoms.<\/p>\n

The \u2018Sport for Rights\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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\u2019s failure to uphold these freedoms for its citizens. In his retrospective on 2014, Nils Muiznieks, the CoE Human Rights Commissioner, declared:<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

President Aliyev may point to token releases that take place from time to time \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

Among those unjustly arrested or convicted in 2014 are:<\/p>\n

Anar Mammadli and Bashir Suleymanli, co-founders of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre \u2013 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\u2019s presidential elections in October 2013. On 29 September 2014, Mammadli was awarded the V\u00e1clav Havel Award for Human Rights by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.<\/p>\n

Leyla Yunus, Director of the Azerbaijan Institute of Peace and Democracy \u2013 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 \u201cfor her self-sacrificing contribution to the protection of human rights and civil freedoms in Azerbaijan.\u201d 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.
\nRasul Jafarov, one of the initiators and coordinators of the \u201cSing for Democracy\u201d (2012) and \u201cArt for Democracy\u201d (2013) campaigns \u2013 Jafarov was arrested on 2 August2014 and has remained in detention since. His trial began on 15 January 2015.
\nIntigam Aliyev, human rights defender and lawyer \u2013 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.
\nKhadija Ismayilova, investigative journalist; radio host for Radio Free Europe\/Radio LibertyAzerbaijani service; member of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project \u2013 Ismayilova was arrested on 5 December 2014.<\/p>\n

We ask you to unequivocally remind Azerbaijan of its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights. Azerbaijan\u2019s partners should insist that this terrible stainon the country\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

NGO coalition \u201cSport for Rights\u201d, including:<\/p>\n

Centre for Civil Liberties (Ukraine)
\nHelsinki Foundation for Human Rights (Poland)
\nIndex on Censorship (Great Britain)
\nInternational Partnership for Human Rights (Belgium)
\nNetherlands Helsinki Committee (The Netherlands)
\nNorwegian Helsinki Committee (Norway)
\nPeople in Need (Czech Republic)
\nPlatform (Great Britain)
\nYouaid Foundation (Poland)
\nA group of civil society activists from Azerbaijan who wish to remain anonymous out
\nof concern for the security of their family members<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Germany\/Azerbaijan: Merkel Should Press Aliyev for Rights (Berlin) \u2013 Germany\u2019s chancellor Angela Merkel should urge president Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan to free leading human rights [more >>>]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1227,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-azerbaijan","category-azerbaijan-human-rights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1226"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1228,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1226\/revisions\/1228"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}