Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2006 - Azerbaijan

Ongoing defamation campaigns against several human rights defenders²

From January 30 to February 6, 2006, Mr. Arif Yunusov, head of the Department of Conflictology and Migration Studies and a member of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, faced almost daily accusations of "betraying the country's interests", on the ANS television channel in particular. This smear campaign started after Mr. Yunusov made critical comments regarding corruption within the Ministry of Defence during an interview on Day.Az Agency television channel on December 21, 2005.

On January 30, 2006, Mr. Safar Abiyev, Minister for Defence, declared that only "genuine" Azerbaijanis had the right to criticise the country's armed forces, in reference to Mr. Yunusov's Armenian origins. This declaration prompted, on February 1 and 2, 2006, a wave of criticisms from representatives of associations of High-Karabakh veterans against Mr. Yunusov, who was accused of betraying national interests.

On February 3, 2006, it appeared that these campaigns were directed at the Institute for Peace and Democracy and the "Concord" Centre for Political and Legal Studies, an Armenian organisation that co-organised with the Institute a series of meetings about the resolution of the conflict in Karabakh in the context of a joint programme financed by the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation.

On February 4, 2006, a group of inhabitants of the Gusar region demonstrated to demand that Mr. Yunusov be expelled from the country.

On September 10, 2006, during a television show on the progovernment channel ATV, Mr. Eldar Zeynalov, chair of the Human Rights Centre of Azerbaijan (HRCA), Mrs. Leyla Yunus, a member of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, and Ms. Arzu Abdullaeva, president of the Azerbaijani Committee of the Helsinki Citizen's Assembly (HCA) and co-president of HCA International, were accused of working in the pay of the Armenian secret services. In particular, Mr. Eldar Zeynalov was accused of being mandated by the secret services to present Azerbaijan as a "big prison". Mrs. Yunus and her husband, Mr. Arif Yunusov, were accused of "humiliating the country abroad", and Ms. Arzu Abdullaeva was accused of playing an active role in "diverting young people by instilling pacifist sentiments".

In 2004 and 2005, Mr. Zeynalov and Mrs. Yunus had already been targeted by numerous defamation campaigns that accused them, inter alia, of supporting terrorists.

Ongoing harassment of Mr. Ilgar Ibragimoglu³

On January 7, 2006, Mr. Ilgar Ibragimoglu, coordinator of the Centre for the Protection of Conscience and Religious Freedom (DEVAMM) and secretary general of the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA), was summoned to the Magistrate's department at the Ministry of Justice for the Yasamalski district, in Baku.

He was forbidden to file any request to leave the country to attend international conferences or forums, on threat of his suspended sentence being commuted to a term of imprisonment without remission⁴.

Although this threat was not acted upon, Mr. Ibragimoglu was nevertheless prevented from leaving Azerbaijan on June 9, 2006, for the eighth time since August 2004. He was due to attend the Meeting on Promoting Inter-Cultural, Inter-Religious and Inter-Ethnic Understanding organised by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Almaty (Kazakhstan) from June 10 to 14, 2006.

From August 8 to 12, 2006, defamation campaigns were led against Mr. Ibragimoglu in the pro-government press (in particular in the newspapers Muasir Musavat and Ses) which accused him of being a "defender of Armenia".

Furthermore, on September 29, 2006, Mr. Ibragimoglu was arrested in the village of Zabrat, 20 km from Baku, while monitoring a peaceful demonstration. He was taken to the police station of the Sabuchinski district in Baku and released shortly afterwards.

Finally, on November 2, 2006, Mr. Ibragimoglu was again prevented from travelling abroad. He was due to travel to Vienna (Austria) in order to participate in an OSCE meeting on the process of democratisation.

Harassment and ill-treatment of Mr. Emin Huseynov⁵

On October 11, 2006, Mr. Emin Huseynov, a member of the Institute for the Freedom and Safety of Reporters and president of the

Committee to Defend Journalist Sakit Zahidov's Rights⁶, was held for four hours at Baku airport on his return from a trip to Istanbul (Turkey). Mr. Huseynov was accused of carrying smuggled goods and was interrogated on his activities. In particular, he was advised "not to be so active" and his passport was damaged.

Mr. Huseynov filed a complaint against the customs officers. After the authorities refused to open an investigation, he applied to the President of the Republic, the Ministers for Home Affairs and National Security, and the Attorney General, requesting that an inquiry be initiated and that the constant surveillance by special services over him, which included the tapping of his telephone, be stopped.

On December 6, 2006, a representative of the Ministry of Home Affairs informed him that the 39th police squad of Baku had been entrusted with opening an investigation into his ongoing surveillance. However, the representative declared that he did not have jurisdiction to enquire into the customs control to which he had been subjected to.

On November 7, 2006, Mr. Huseynov was thrown to the ground and violently beaten by individuals in plain clothes during the violent dispersal of a demonstration of about fifty journalists in support of the Azadlig newspaper, the offices of which were at that time threatened with closure.

On the evening of November 24, 2006 and the morning of November 25, Mr. Huseynov was violently evicted from the offices of the newspaper, on the basis of a court order requiring the closure of the Azadlig premises.

[Refworld note: This report as posted on the FIDH website (www.fidh.org) was in pdf format with country chapters run together by region. Footnote numbers have been retained here, so do not necessarily begin at 1.]

2. See Annual Report 2005 and Written Statement to the Council of Europe, November 13, 2006.

3. See Annual Report 2005.

4. Mr. Ibragimoglu received a suspended sentence of five years of prison on April 2, 2004, after monitoring the demonstrations following the results of the presidential elections on October 15, 2003.

5. See Observatory Written Statement to the Council of Europe, November 13, 2006.

6. Mr. Sakit Zahidov, a journalist with Azadlig known for his satirical articles, was condemned on October 4, 2006 to three years in prison for "possession of drugs for purposes of personal use", on the basis of presumably fabricated charges.