EU, PACE and international human rights organizations condemn verdict against Azerbaijani human rights defender
The European Union calls on Azerbaijan to abide by its international commitments and to establish greater trust in the independence and professionalism of its judicial system, as well as to ensure that Rasul Jafarov is given the opportunity to appeal the verdict in a fair and unbiased process, the statement, published on EU official website, reads.
"The six and a half year custodial sentence imposed by an Azerbaijan court on Mr Rasul Jafarov, a well-known human rights defender and respected partner of international donors, appears harsh and disproportionate to the alleged offences on which it is based. Procedural shortcomings, witnessed by international monitors during the trial of Mr Jafarov, raise concerns about due legal processes,” the EU says.
The co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of Azerbaijan, Pedro Agramunt and Tadeusz Iwinski, have also released a statement noting that such a long sentence against a human rights defender for charges in connection to administering an NGO could be perceived as disproportionate. They also reminded that an application is pending before European Court of Human Rights against Jafarov’s arrest and pre-trial detention, in which the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights has intervened as a third party. The statement is published on PACE website.
The international human rights organization Freedom House also made a statement condemning the politically motivated imprisonment of Rasul Jafarov, who was convicted on ludicrous charges. The verdict fits “a pattern of prosecutions against leading human rights defenders and investigative journalists, including Leyla Yunus, Intigam Aliyev, Emin Huseynov and Khadija Ismail, on trumped up charges. The Azerbaijani authorities seem purposefully oblivious to the irony of sentencing an activist on counts of financial wrong-doing, given that President, Ilham Aliyev has accrued great wealth while in power,” said Susan Corke, director of Eurasia programs of Freedom House, urging Europe’s leaders not to attend the European Games in Baku, as a clear condemnation of Azerbaijan’s actions.
The international organization Human Rights Watch has released a video on its website, featuring prominent activists and journalists detained in the recent months – the human rights defenders Rasul Jafarov, Intigam Aliyev, Leyla Yunus and her husband Arif, investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova and the director of the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) – Emin Huseynov.
“With less than two months to go to the European Games, the spotlight is increasingly on Azerbaijan’s terrible human rights record and its political prosecutions of critics. This is a key moment for Azerbaijan’s partners, including the European Union, to call on Azerbaijan to release the critics it has thrown behind bars and end its crackdown,” said Jane Buchanan, associate Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. She added that the political prisoners and those in exile are fully aware that thousands of athletes, sports fans, journalists, and others will soon arrive in Baku to celebrate a major new international event. They are counting on Olympic leaders and governments to not just come to the Baku party, but to stand up for what is right, by insisting on freedom for those wrongly accused.
The Sport for Rights coalition of international organizations also resolutely condemned the sentencing of Rasul Jafarov to 6.5 years’ imprisonment, demanding his immediate release and calling for robust sanctions against Azerbaijan unless the government takes concrete steps to halt the crackdown in the country. The statement is published on the website of the human right organization Index on Censorship.
“This ridiculous sentence is a punishment for Jafarov’s human rights activism. The authoritarian regime in Baku are scared of the attention Jafarov would bring during the high profile sport events they are proudly hosting – the European Games in June this year and the Formula One Grand Prix in 2016,” said Thomas Hughes, Executive Director of Article 19. Index on Censorship CEO Jodie Ginsberg added that the Baku games should not be used as a means to blind the wider world to the appalling treatment being meted out to journalists and activists in Azerbaijan. The international community must unite in condemning the Azerbaijani government and in calling for the immediate release of Rasul Jafarov and his compatriots.
As the statement has it, the coalition calls for the EU and its Member States to impose targeted sanctions – for instance visa ban– against those members of the regime who systematically abuse fundamental human rights of citizens of Azerbaijan. At the same time, given the unprecedented human rights crisis in Azerbaijan, the coalition calls for the European Olympic Committee to establish a working group to examine specific cases of right abuses that violates the spirit and letter of the Olympic Charter and the atmosphere of the first European Games.
“A robust response from the European Olympic Committee is required, together with sanctions from the European Union and United States. This is the only way to bring about the release of Rasul Jafarov and other political prisoners, including prominent human rights defenders Leyla Yunus, Emin Huseynov, Anar Mammadli, award-winning investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova and well-known politician Ilgar Mammadov,” Platform London representative Emma Hughes said. Maria Dahle, Executive Director of the Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF), added that the authorities of Azerbaijan have now come to an absolute low point of the regressive trend over the past years and an even lower point will be reached with the expected sentencing of human rights lawyer Intigam Aliyev the following week. She said they expect governments, international organisations and corporate businesses that have relations with the Azerbaijani government to hold Azerbaijan accountable and react firmly. “Profound actions and sanctions must be taken as a response to Azerbaijan’s severe crackdown on independent civil society and human rights defenders – and to Azerbaijan’s total disrespect of international agreements and responsibilities,” she stressed.
The British newspaper The Time also covered the verdict of the lawyer and human rights campaigner Rasul Jafarov. According to the article, published on the newspaper website, Azerbaijan is cracking down on domestic dissent before welcoming thousands of athletes and spectators to the first European Games.
“Rasul Jafarov fell foul of the country’s autocratic government, headed by President Aliyev. He planned to use the two-week sporting event to highlight rights abuses in the corruption-plagued nation, which relies on oil and gas revenues to fund its extravagant international projects,” the article reads.
In his article about Jafarov’s case, published on the independent news platform The News Hub, freelance journalist Cameron Kilmister writes that given Azerbaijan's media freedom index, it came as no surprise to learn of Jafarov's arrest in August, 2014.
“Whether Azerbaijan will cave to international pressure and allow Jafarov to appeal his sentence is still unclear. Yet the activist has now become one of the victims that he spent years trying to help,” the author writes.
Rasul Jafarov, a well-known human rights defender, “Art for Democracy” campaign organizer, was sentenced to 6.5 years’ imprisonment in Azerbaijan. The verdict was brought in by the judge Eldar Ismayilov in the Baku court of grave crimes on April 16. Jafarov is banned taking up any post for three years after his release.
After the verdict was handed down, Jafarov said he considered it to be trumped up and politically motivated. The court did not prove any of the allegations brought against the human rights defender. All of the prosecution witnesses testified in favor of the human rights defender, and the process actually proved his complete innocence.
Related:
Azerbaijani human rights defender Rasul Jafarov sentenced to 6.5 years’ imprisonment
Department of State responds to Azerbaijani media attacks: Attempting to blame US is just distraction from their own problems
International human rights organizations condemn arrest of Azerbaijani human rights defender Rasul Jafarov
Newsfeed
Videos
Artur Vanetsyan: I think you'll see me more often at various events in future
