Arbitrary arrests and violent repression of civilians

07/06/2002
Press release

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) has been informed by the Human Rights Center of Azerbaijan and Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly of the violent incidents, which took place on 3rd June 2002, in the Nardaran village, 40 km from the capital Baku. One citizen was killed. Many others were injured, while the police arrested 11 persons.

According to the information received, villagers held a demonstration gathering one thousand persons on May 7, demanding the improvement of the social and economic situation and the dismissal of the current representative of the executive power in the village, M. Failet Mirzoyev. Some of them are reported to have entered at the Governors Office in order to persuade him to dismiss. The authorities considered this action as illegal and started investigations on 15th May under the charges of the articles 221.2.2 (hooliganism), 233 (break of public order), 315.01 (violence against the representatives of authorities).

On 3rd June in the morning, a group of armed policemen and members of internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), led by the vice-chief of Baku City Police Yashar Aliyev entered the village. They arrested about 11 persons : Seyfulla Aliyev, Hamid Yakhshybeyov, Hikmet Veliyev, Zammedin Rahimzade and others. Among them, 4 people were arrested on administrative order, among whom, Inayat Rustamov, whose appointment at the position of representative of the executive power in the village was claimed in May. All these persons are still in detention, charged with the aforementioned accusations.

According to the Human Rights Center of Azerbaijan, around 9.00 p.m., a mass demonstration, in the Imam Huseyn Plaza, the central square of the village, followed these arrests. The residents of Nardaran demanded the release of the prisoners and blocked the entries of the village with barricades. The information diffused by the Ministry of Interior, according to which ten local policemen were taken as hostages by the demonstrators, was not confirmed.

The police troops tried to enter the village again, about 9.30 and 10.00 p.m. in order to clear out from the protesters the central square of Nardaran. The police forces were armed and held shields and truncheons. The villagers tried to defend themselves from this assault. According to the information, some of them used stones and bottles with fuel. The policemen began to shoot blindly on the population, initially by plastic bullets, then by ordinary ones. After 40 minutes of open fire the police forces left the village. One civilian, Agayev Alihasan Agababa was killed and 60 others were wounded. According to the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly the protesters had no opportunity to take the wounded people to the hospital. The police blocked the ways. Allegedly, more than 35 policemen were wounded and hospitalised in the hospitals of MIA and Sabunchi District.

During the last fights the police arrested two more demonstrators and the journalists of Lider TV who were covering the events. They were reportedly transferred to the 12 police station of Sabunchi district Police Directorate and were released several hours later. The police proceeded to more arrests the following days. When some relatives of the persons injured managed to transfer them to the hospital, they were arrested on 3 June, at night.

The FIDH expresses its concerns about the absence of any investigation on the conditions of death of the 53-years old Agayev Alihasan Agababa, while investigations have been opened only against the villagers. The Milli Medlis (National Assembly) refused to discuss the situation in this region. The FIDH urges the authorities to order a thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances of these events, with the aim of identifying those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law.

The FIDH condemns those incidents, which are strictly connected to the difficult social and economic situation in the region of Nardaran where the unemployment is very high. The limitation on gas and electricity for the settlements has worsened and many problems remain unsolved by the government. The political indifference shown by central authorities toward this region and the growing poverty made the inhabitants to hold several pickets this year.

The FIDH is deeply concerned by the excessive use of force of the Azerbaijani authorities and calls them to put an immediate end to the harassment of all persons who are engaged in protests. The FIDH demands that all persons arrested in relation with these events, be released immediately in the absence of valid legal charges or, if such charges exist, bring them before an impartial and competent tribunal and guarantee their physical and mental integrity as well as their procedural rights in any circumstances.

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