According to a CIVICUS partner in Baku, a court in Azerbaijan sentenced six Azeri opposition activists on 25 August to prison terms ranging from 18 to 36 months on trumped up charges of “organising actions resulting in the violation of public order and resisting and using force against government officials”. The political activists were arrested for participating in protests on 2 April 2011 organised by the Opposition Public Chamber. Those sentenced include: Zulfugar Eyvazli from the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (APFP), Babak Hasanov, Sahib Karimov, Elshan Hasanov, Elnur Israfilov and Arif Alishli.
“Civil society in Azerbaijan firmly believes that the charges against political activists are politically motivated”, said Dr. Leila Alieva, President of the Center for National and International Studies in Azerbaijan. Another activist who preferred anonymity said: “We have little faith in the independence of the judiciary as courts are often used as a repressive tool of the regime”.
The trial of eight others arrested in similar circumstances is on-going according to Radio Free Europe (RFE/RL). Opposition activists Tural Abbasli, head of the Central Office of the Musavat Party and Mahammad Majidli, head of APFP’s public relations unit, were also arrested at the 2 April protests and charged with organising mass disorder. In a closed trial, they are likely to face up to 3 years’ imprisonment if convicted as per Section 233 of the Azerbaijan Penal Code. On 31 March, prior to the April protests, another political activist from APFP, Shahin Hasanli, chief of the organisational department, was also arrested in a related incident. He was charged with possessing illegal arms and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment.
“Shanin Hasanli’s arrest was seen by many in Azeri civil society as the government’s attempt to halt the planned protests since he was one of the key organisers,” said Dr. Alieva.
Similarly, a journalist and civil society activist, Elnur Majid, currently living in France, was charged in absentia for calling for protests on 11 March and 2 April and accused of inciting national, ethnic or religious hatred.
In a separate incident, but related to the demonstrations, Azeri authorities have targeted Azerbaijan Human Rights House, an affiliate of the Human Rights House Network (HRHN) working on human rights and democracy, and suspended their activities on claims that they failed to comply with registration requirements. On 10 March 2011, the Azerbaijan branch of Human Rights House reportedly received a letter from the Ministry of Justice demanding the organisation cease operations on the grounds that it was in breach of June 2009 amendments to the law on nongovernmental organisations that requires all international NGOs or their local affiliate to enter into agreements with the government to be able to operate. This followed a visit from the police on 10 February 2011 who allegedly threatened to evict the organisation. The incident took place shortly after a press conference held by Human Rights House over the arrest and detention of Jabbar Savalan, an opposition youth activist accused of being in possession of drugs, charged and sentenced to two and a half years in prison on 5 February 2011. Sources from the media and civil society activists alleged that charges were trumped up against him because of his role in calling for the planned protests.
Most recently, on 10 August 2011, in yet another separate attack on human rights activists, government authorities demolished a building housing three human rights organisations. The building, at 38-1 and 2 Shamsi Badalbeili Street, owned by Leyla Yunus, a leading human rights defender in Azerbaijan, and her husband Arif, was demolished in the presence of a Mr. Ismailov, a representative of the Baku municipality, and a Mr. Gamborov, a representative of the state committee dealing with property issues. The demolished building was occupied by human rights groups, among which included Yunus's Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD), the Azerbaijan Campaign to Ban Landmines, a member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines coalition, and the Women's Crisis Center (WCC), the only one in Baku. Yunus has been advocating for the rights of Baku communities threatened by the on-going forced evictions and illegal demolition of homes and other structures through the government-led beautification project of central Baku.CIVICUS, in view of the unfair conviction of the political activists, the government’s use of the restrictive 2009 amended NGO law to restrain the work of Human Rights House, and the ongoing and increasing attacks on other civil society activists, believes the current Azeri government is violating internationally recognised freedoms of expression and assembly. CIVICUS urgently calls upon the government to take the following measures immediately:
- Provide for a review of the charges against the above-named political activists and secure their release pending review. In the same way, it recommends withdrawing all charges against those whose trials are on-going
- Commission an independent investigation into alleged violations of freedom of assembly and expression during the 2 April 2011 demonstrations and guarantee these freedoms in the future
- Provide a temporary alternative workplace to human rights-focused civil society organisations affected by the demolition of Leyla Yunus’s premises in Baku, including the Women’s Crisis Centre, which provides emergency services to women in crisis
- Provide an enabling environment for the free operation of civil society organisations including reversing the closure of Human Rights House and reforming the NGO Amendment Law of 2009 that requires foreign NGOs to enter into an agreement with a government agency before being permitted to operate.