International organizations sound alarm: Tell world about problems of Azerbaijan and you will be punished
A court in Azerbaijan on April 22, 2015 sentenced Intigam Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s leading human rights lawyer, to seven years and six months in prison on bogus charges. The authorities should immediately release Aliyev, 52, and vacate his politically motivated conviction, international organization Human Rights Watch said in a statement posted on its website.
The statement highlights that Aliyev’s conviction comes 51 days before Baku will host the European Games. Human Rights Watch urges Azerbaijan’s international partners to call for the immediate release of Aliyev and other wrongfully imprisoned activists and make clear for Azerbaijan that they will not send high-level delegations to the opening of the games unless these prisoners are freed and the government’s crackdown on independent voices ends.
“Today is a disastrous day for rights and freedoms in Azerbaijan. Intigam Aliyev is Azerbaijan’s pioneer in human rights litigation. If allowed to stand, Intigam Aliyev’s outrageous conviction would mean that for years to come victims of human rights abuse in Azerbaijan have lost one of their strongest advocates,” Giorgi Gogia, senior South Caucasus researcher at Human Rights Watch, said.
The organization reminds that when Azerbaijani authorities arrested Aliyev in August, 2014, a journalist asked him what he was accused of. He responded calmly: “Those who defend human rights and political prisoners and report on election fraud are considered criminals in this country. I am one of those criminals.”
International human rights organization Index on Censorship, in its turn, adds that the sentencing of the respected human rights attorney is yet another example of Azerbaijan’s rigged judicial system and the continued stifling of civil society.
“Index condemns this latest sentence from Azerbaijan – a country that forms part of the Council of Europe, yet upholds precious few of the human rights it has pledged to protect as part of that grouping,” Index CEO Jodie Ginsberg said calling for the international community to speak out against the country’s ''brazen'' human rights abuses, and for the immediate release of Aliyev and his colleagues.
Human rights organization Amnesty International also released a statement. Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia, Denis Krivosheev, noted that Intigam Aliyev is another victim of a concerted campaign by authorities in Azerbaijan “to sweep all of the country’s problems under the carpet” as they prepare to host the upcoming European Games. ''The message is: Tell the world about our problems and you will be punished,” he said, highlighting that the only ‘crime' Intigam Aliyev has committed is to defend the human rights of his fellow citizens. He must be released immediately.
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint program of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT), published a statement on the website of OMCT strongly condemning the seven and a half year jail sentence of the human rights activist and calling for his immediate released.
“Yet another shameful sentence against a prominent human rights lawyer in Azerbaijan,” declared FIDH President, Karim Lahidji.
As the statement reads, Aliyev's health has severely deteriorated since the beginning of his detention.
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) also published the letter of representatives of 11 media freedom organizations sent to the President of the European Court of Human Rights, Dean Spielmann. They express their concern at the ongoing crackdown on human rights and press freedom in Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan is scheduled to host the first-ever European Games in June 2015, the prestige event, as it did during the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, which was held in Baku. Back then, Azerbaijan still had an active civil society and a number of independent media that could report on such topics as corruption, human rights abuses, and social issues. Now, most of the country’s prominent journalists and human rights defenders are harassed, silenced, in prison, or in forced exile. Two journalists have been murdered with impunity over the past decade.
''In this environment, it is all the more crucial that the European Court of Human Rights prioritize its review of cases pending against Azerbaijan. As of December 31, 2014, 1,404 cases against the country were pending at the European Court of Human Rights, according to the court’s own statistics,'' the letter reads.
As respect for human rights by Azerbaijani authorities wanes, the few remaining independent media outlets, journalists, and human rights defenders in Azerbaijan depend on the European Court to dispense justice and uphold their rights. The international human rights organizations also call on European Court of Human Rights to ensure that these critical cases are reviewed expeditiously, as they are emblematic of the state of media freedom in Azerbaijan, as the letter has it.
According to RFE/RL, Intigam Aliyev is one of activists, journalists, and government critics jailed in what rights groups say has been a growing clampdown on dissent by authorities under President Ilham Aliyev.
According to a recent report by Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Azerbaijan ranks among 10 most censored countries in the world, trailing behind nations such as Eritrea and North Korea, Voice of Armenia writes.
On August 8, 2014 the head of the Legal Education Society, Intigam Aliyev, was arrested on charges of tax evasion, abuse of power and illegal entrepreneurship. International human rights organization Amnesty International stated that Aliyev was arrested on trumped-up charges and persecuted for his human rights activities.
A week before the verdict of Aliyev, April 16, another Azerbaijani human rights defender, Rasul Jafarov, was sentenced to 6.5 years’ imprisonment on similar charges.
Related:
Azerbaijani human rights defender Intigam Aliyev sentenced to 7.5 years imprisonment
Azerbaijani human rights defender Rasul Jafarov sentenced to 6.5 years’ imprisonment
International community sharply condemns verdict against Azerbaijani human rights defender Rasul Jafarov
Nils Muižnieks: Prosecution of human rights defenders in Azerbaijan constitutes reprisals for cooperating with CoE
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