Human Rights Watch World Report 1997 - Azerbaijan

Human Rights Developments

The treason trials of President Heydar Aliyev's personal enemies, brutal treatment in detention, and continued repression of free speech stood in grim contrast to the Azerbaijan government's efforts to join international human rights institutions in 1996. Notably, on May 31, the parliament (Milli Mejlis)ratified the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment and several other human rights-related international conventions, and in June Azerbaijan received guest status with the Council of Europe. But continued ill treatment in detention demonstrated how far Azerbaijan has to go in order to conform with Council of Europe standards and with the torture convention. At least two individuals died in pre-trial detention as a result of brutal beatings. Ilqar Samedov, arrested on narcotics possession charges on June 14, was sent to a hospital on June 15 and died on June 29 as a result, according to a coroner's report, "of blows to the head with a blunt object." After Samedov's transfer to a hospital, the case investigator refused to allow his father to see his dying son; moreover, police officials waited three days before making the death public. A member of the Islamist Revival Party died in April after seventeen days in the Ministry of National Security pre-trial facility. Police routinely beat those detained at the Baku City Police Department. Victims included Col. Tofiq Qasimov, who was beaten for several days in January; Ramiz Jalilov, who received multiple injuries on September 30, 1995; Yashar Tezel (see below); and a young OPON (Special Police Detachment) member accused of participation in a 1995 coup attempt, whose parents reported to Human Rights Watch/Helsinki that police beat their son for two days and threatened to make him sit on a bottle in order to extract a confession from him. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki also received credible reports from the attorneys and relatives of individuals charged in connection with various coup attempts that they were detained for as long as a month in the basement of the Presidential Special Department, deprived of meetings with attorneys, of running water, and of toilet facilities. The fallout from three years of coup attempts and alleged assassination attempts on President Aliyev culminated in a series of trials and convictions marred by serious due process violations. In at least four cases, the prosecution lodged accusations of participation in the March 1995 coup attempt long (up to a year) after the arrests of the accused on illegal weapons charges. These include Adyl Hajiev, sentenced in September to fourteen years of hard labor, Ramiz Jalilov (see above), a family friend of Rovshan Javadov (the 1995 coup leader); Rahab Qaziyev, brother of former Defense Minister Rahim Qaziyev (see below); and Gen. Vahid Musayev. The latter three were put on trial on treason charges. Investigators routinely denied defense attorneys access to these men. Police arrested former State Secretary Panah Huseynov on April 16 on charges of misuse of state property, bringing to eleven the number of former state ministers in prison or awaiting trial. In connection with Huseynov's arrest, police also arrested Musavat party leader Arif Hajiyev (in violation of the immunity he enjoys as a member of parliament), allegedly for obstructing justice, and Turkish journalist Yashar Tezel, whom they released two weeks later. On April 18 police in Nakhchivan raided former president Abulfaz Elchibey's headquarters and arrested Qiyas Sadykhov, his former chief of staff, and his brother Niyas (whom they reportedly beat) for allegedly hiding Huseynov. Both were released in August. The Supreme Court of Azerbaijan declined to retry former Defense Minister Rahim Qaziyev, who was sentenced to death in absentia in 1995 for major military defeats in Nagorno Karabakh and who was arrested in Moscow and extradited to Azerbaijan in April. Deputy Procurator General Isa Najafov told a Human Rights Watch/Helsinki representative in Baku that sentencing an individual to death in absentia did not violate due process, demonstrating a devastating lack of understanding of Azerbaijan's obligations under international law. In May police in Nakhchivan detained the wife, son, brother and cousin of Sahib Huseynov, accused of plotting a 1993 failed assassination attempt on President Aliyev. The wife and son were detained for eight hours at the Nakhchivan airport; police brutally beat the brother in attempt to learn Huseynov's whereabouts and later released him and his cousin. In early October, police in the Sharur district held "hostage" relatives of Popular Front Party member Kamal Talibov, and detained him on unclear charges. Popular Front leader Arif Pashayev was released from prison under a May presidential amnesty, and former Minister of Defense Tofiq Qasimov was released from custody in February after intense public pressure and concern for his sharply declining health, but the reportedly trumped-up charges of treason remained. The government continued to stifle political speech. Government censors routinely refused to allow publication of issues of opposition newspapers that contained articles criticizing President Aliyev, and the government closed the only independent television station in four counties. The Press and Information Ministry attempted to close Avrasiya (Baku), an independent daily newspaper, under the premise that its founders were not Azerbaijani citizens. In Lenkoran, Lenkoran Hayati (Lenkoran Life)journalist Israfil Agayev was sentenced to three years for libel in connection with an article critical of the local public prosecutor. On October 22, university students Nasi Sharafkhanov and Bayram Ismailov received prison sentences of one and two years respectively, and their professor, Yashar Mammedli, was amnestied on charges of calling for the violent overthrow of the government, a step which violated free speech rights and was clearly aimed at intimidating the Popular Front Youth Organization, of which the students were leaders. The charges were related to anti-government leaflets they had distributed in January.

The Right to Monitor

Nakhchivan police routinely harassed Women's Rights Society activists at the Nakhchivan airport in an obvious attempt to block the flow of information to Baku on political prisoners in the area. The Ministry of Justice repeatedly refused to register the Committee for Human Rights and Democracy, citing, among other things, the organization's failure to provide copies of the founder's passports, which is not among registration rules. The government continued to deny the International Committee of the Red Cross access to pre-trial detainees, but granted unhindered access to prisoners of war.

The Role of the International Community

Europe

The Council of Europe in June voted to grant Azerbaijan guest membership, and the European Union signed a partnership and cooperation agreement with Azerbaijan but, at the end of 1996, had not ratified an interim agreement. The European Parliament had not, as of this writing, given its assent to the agreement, which requires respect for human rights and democratic principles before it can be ratified by E.U. member states and Azerbaijan.

United States

The Clinton administration vigorously opposed a new bill that would tie U.S. aid to the Azerbaijani government to proportional aid to Nagorno Karabakh. U.S. aid was previously banned due to Azerbaijan's economic blockade of Armenia. The U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan in private meetings with President Aliyev pressed for the release of Tofiq Qasimov and raised concern for the health of former Minister of Interior Iskandar Hamidov, now serving a fourteen-year prison sentence. Embassy officials also raised concern over the denial of registration to the Word of Life Church.