AZE 002 / 1213 / OBS 098
Arbitrary detention / Judicial harassment
Azerbaijan
December 20, 2013
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Azerbaijan.
Brief description of the situation:
The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the arbitrary arrest and detention of Mr. Anar Mammadli, Chairman of the Azerbaijani Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre (EMDS), a not-for-profit organisation that carries out independent election monitoring since 2001 and documented electoral irregularities during the presidential elections of October 9, 2013.
According to the information received, on December 16, 2013, Mr. Anar Mammadli, Mr. Bashir Suleimanly, EMDS Executive Director, and Mr. Elnur Mammedov, leader of the Public Association for International Cooperation Volunteers (PAICV), were summonsed to appear before the Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General for Serious Crimes in Azerbaijan for interrogation in relation to an investigation opened on October 27 by the same department against the EMDS (see below). Later the same day, Mr. Anar Mammadli was brought before the Nasimi District Court of Baku, where he was ordered to be held in pre-trial detention for a period of three months for violating Article 192.2.2 and Article 308.2 of the Criminal Code (see below). The two others were released. Mr. Mammadli was not given the opportunity to call his own lawyer and was represented by a lawyer appointed by the court. On December 17, 2013, he could finally contact his lawyer, who has now lodged a complaint regarding his arrest. In the week of December 23, 2013, the court will decide whether Mr. Mammadli will be released until the next hearing in his case. The date of this hearing is still unknown. In the meantime Mr. Mammadli remains in the Pre-Trial Detention Centre No. 1 in Baku.
EMDS was de-registered in 2008, but has continued its work. Mr. Anar Mammadli’s and EMDS became a target of the Prosecutor in the aftermath of the presidential elections of October 9, 2013, as EMDS published a report on electoral irregularities. On October 31, 2013, during a search conducted in the EMDS offices, print materials, press releases, reports, and financial documents were confiscated, as well as two computers. Since then, Mr. Mammadli, along with EMDS, has been put under investigation for “tax evasion”, “illegal business activity”, and “abuse of authority”. During the questioning, members of EMDS were told that the suspicions relate to the receipt of a large amount of foreign funding. Authorities allege that Mr. Mammadli is in violation of Article 192.2.2 of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan - prohibition of “’business activity by an organised group without registration in the order provided by the legislation of the Azerbaijan Republic”, punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment. However, this provision applies only to commercial enterprises and not to not-for-profit organisations like EMDS. Mr. Mammadli would also be prosecuted under Article 308.2 of the Criminal Code, allegedly for intending to influence the election results. In this framework, on November 26, 2013, Mr. Anar Mammadli and four other staff members of EMDS cancelled their plans to attend the EU East Partnership Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, in order to respect the prohibition on leaving the country during their investigation.
The Observatory notes that since its de-registration, EMDS has applied on numerous occasions for its re-registration, but the authorities systematically denied its requests, thus placing the NGO in a vulnerable situation. The EMDS has lodged an application with the European Court of Human Rights challenging this situation.
The Observatory firmly condemns the arbitrary arrest and pre-trial detention of Mr. Anar Mammadli and considers it another in the series of efforts aimed at preventing the documentation, reporting, and critical assessment of irregularities in electoral processes, especially the presidential elections of October 9, 2013.
The Observatory therefore calls on the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Anar Mammadli, to allow the EMDS to register and to stop interfering in its work.
Action requested:
Please write to the authorities in Azerbaijan, urging them to:
i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Anar Mammadli as well as of all human rights defenders in Azerbaijan;
ii. Release Mr. Anar Mammadli immediately and unconditionally as his detention is arbitrary since it only aims at sanctioning his human rights activities;
iii. Put an end to any kind of harassment - including at the judicial level - against Mr. Mammadli and more generally against all human rights defenders in Azerbaijan and ensure in all circumstances that they are able to carry out their work without unjustified hindrances;
iv. Conform with the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, especially its Article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”, as well as its Article 12.2, which provides that the State shall “take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of his or her rights”;
v. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards and international instruments ratified by Azerbaijan.
Addresses:
· Mr. Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Office of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, 19 Istiqlaliyyat St., Baku AZ1066, Azerbaijan, Fax: (+994) 12 492 06 25, (+994) 412 92 28 68, E-mail: office@pa.gov.az, office@apparat.gov.az
· Prosecutor’s Office, 7 Nigar Rafibeyli St., Baku, Azerbaijan, Fax: (+994) 12 492 06 82, (+994) 12 492 26 63, E-mail: eldar_sultanov@prosecutor.gov.az
· Mr. Ramil Usubov, Minister of Internal Affairs of the Azerbaijani Republic, Fax: (+994) 12 492 45 90
· Mr. Fikrat F. Mammadov, Minister of Justice in Azerbaijan, Inshaatchilar Prospekti, 1 Baku, Azerbaijan, e-mail: contact@justice.gov.az; Fax (+994) 12 430 09 81
· Permanent Mission of Azerbaijan to the United Nations in Geneva, Route des Fayards 237, CH-1290 Versoix, Switzerland, E-mail: geneva@mission.mfa.gov.az Fax: (+41) 22 901 18 44
· Azerbaijani Embassy in Brussels, Avenue Moliere, 464, 1050 Brussels, Belgium, Fax: (+32) 2 345 91 85
Please also write to the diplomatic missions or embassies of Azerbaijan in your respective country as well as to the EU diplomatic missions or embassies in Azerbaijan.