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September 25, 2024
Re:
Escalating Crackdown on Critics and Persistent Human Rights
Violations in Azerbaijan
Ahead of its January
2025 vote on the renewal of Azerbaijan’s credentials, the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) should develop
and enforce clear criteria that Azerbaijan should meet before its
delegation can be readmitted to the assembly.
Since PACE’s decision
in January 2024 not to ratify the credentials of Azerbaijan’s
parliamentary delegation, the Azerbaijani government has only
intensified its relentless
crackdown
on human rights defenders, lawyers, independent journalists,
opposition politicians, civil society activists, and academics. While
Azerbaijan has a longstanding and well-documented record of
repressing critical voices, over the last year the authorities have
accelerated their crackdown, targeting the remaining vestiges of
independent civil society and media with baseless but serious
criminal charges. Dozens of activists and media figures have been
arrested, most on charges of smuggling, fraud, counterfeiting
currency or drugs possession. Torture
and ill-treatment remain widespread and many of the detainees have
complained of
ill-treatment
in police custody.
The crackdown together
with the highly restrictive legal environment for the operations of
independent civil society organizations and media threaten to
eradicate all forms of dissent and legitimate
human rights work.
The Organization for
Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Office
for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE ODIHR) described
the snap presidential and parliamentary elections held this year as
“not competitive, held in a restrictive environment, and falling
well short of democratic standards,” and as a “contest devoid of
competition.” PACE was not invited to observe these elections.
Given these
developments, it is urgent for PACE members to continue to address
the deteriorating human rights situation in Azerbaijan and demand
that Azerbaijan complies with its statutory and human rights
obligations as clear benchmarks before any restoration of the
Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation’s credentials in 2025.
Key
Cases and Trends
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Two emblematic cases of
detention of internationally recognized experts and rights defenders
illustrate the authorities’ intention to shut down criticism and
intimidate independent groups and activists:
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On April 29, 2024,
Azerbaijani authorities arrested
Anar
Mammadli,
the head of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center
(EMDS), a member
of Human Rights House Azerbaijan,
CURE Campaign and European Platform for Democratic Elections
(EPDE), and winner of the PACE 2014 Václav Havel Human Rights
Prize, and remanded
him to pretrial detention on fabricated criminal charges of
“smuggling by a group.” His arrest came after EMDS had
published a preliminary assessment on the conduct of the February
presidential elections and as Mammadli and other human rights
defenders announced a coalition on climate justice ahead of the
United Nations Climate Conference (COP29). Mammadli’s detention
was also an apparent reprisal for his human rights advocacy
at the UN Human Rights Council
in March.
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In July 2023, the
authorities using excessive force arrested renowned scholar and
anti-corruption expert, Gubad
Ibadoghlu,
shortly after his return to Azerbaijan following years in forced
exile. Dr Ibadoghlu is a well-known academic who taught at the
London School of Economics, served as civil society representative
on the board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
(EITI), and participated in the Global Coalition to Monitor the UN
Convention against Corruption. In 2023, he established the
Azerbaijani Youth Education Foundation in the UK, to promote the
education of Azerbaijani youth partially using funds from recovered
assets allegedly stolen by Azerbaijani oligarchs. Following nine
months of pre-trial detention,
during which his
health rapidly deteriorated
as a result of the authorities’ failure to provide him with
adequate medical treatment, he was placed under house arrest. If
convicted, he could face up to 17 years in prison.
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Since November
2023,
Azerbaijani authorities have arrested
at least 11 independent journalists
and media
workers,
and remanded them to pretrial detention on various bogus criminal
charges. These include
Ulvi Hasanli,
Sevinj
Abbasova Vagifgizi,
Hafiz
Babali,
Nargiz
Absalamova,
Mahammad
Kekalov,
Elnara
Gasimova,
Shamo
Eminov,
Mushfig
Jabbarov,
and
Aziz
Orujov. Several
others
were banned from leaving the country.
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Other
prominent civil society representatives and government critics
behind bars include Bakhtiyar
Hajiyev, Akif
Gurbanov,
Ruslan
Izzatli,
Ilkin
Amrahov, Ramil Babayev, Imran
Aliyev, Alasgar
Mammadli and
Farid
Mehralizade.
Several
of the detainees experience acute health problems due to denial of
adequate health care and require urgent
attention. Like the detained journalists, they face retaliatory
criminal charges.
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Two trade union
activists, Afiaddin
Mammadov
and Mahyaddin
Orujov,
have been held in pre-trial detention since September and December
2023, respectively, and face spurious criminal hooliganism and drug
charges, respectively. Two other activists with the same trade
union, Elvin
Mustafayev
and Aykhan
Israfilov,
convicted
on bogus drug charges, were sentenced to three and four years,
respectively.
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In June 2023, the
authorities detained at least four protesters during
environmental protests in
Söyüdlü village. In relation to the same protest, police arrested
others, including a former parliament member, Nazim
Baydamirli,
on fabricated drug possession and extortion charges. In August, a
Baku court convicted
a man who worked for the company that printed posters for the
protests.
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As recently as July and
August, Azerbaijani authorities arrested researchers and activists
Igbal
Abilov and
Bahruz
Samadov,
charging them with treason on spurious grounds. They remain in
pretrial custody, facing potentially lengthy prison terms.
Azerbaijan has one of
the worst
records
among Council of Europe member states on implementation of European
Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judgments. The Mammadli
group
of cases
and Ramazanova
group of cases
involve a pattern of government assault on civic space and human
rights defenders. The cases covered, respectively, politically
motivated detentions of human rights defenders and rights abuses
linked to the registration of nongovernmental groups (NGOs). These
groups of cases remain essentially unimplemented to this day.
In July, the Council of
Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) took the “exceptional
decision” to make a public
statement concerning
Azerbaijan under Art. 10 (2) of the Convention for the Prevention of
Torture, citing the government's “outright refusal” to cooperate
with the Committee. The CPT has repeatedly highlighted severe and
systemic issues related to the treatment of people in police custody,
including widespread torture and ill-treatment by law enforcement
officials at the Department for Combatting Organized Crime under the
Ministry of Internal Affairs. The PACE president has also expressed
deep concern over Azerbaijan’s refusal to cooperate with the CPT,
emphasising the need for Azerbaijan to address ongoing human rights
violations.
Likewise, the European
Union Delegation to the Council of Europe has expressed grave
concern
over Azerbaijan’s persistent lack of cooperation with international
mechanisms. The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights
has raised the alarming
increase
in politically motivated detentions of civil society representatives
and journalists.
Recommendations
for PACE
In light of the ongoing
repression in Azerbaijan and the serious concerns raised by various
Council of Europe bodies, we call upon the PACE to:
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During
the urgent procedure debate at the fourth part of its 2024 session,
demand the immediate and unconditional release of all wrongfully
imprisoned individuals, seek the full restoration of their civil and
political rights, and an end to the persecution of critical voices
in Azerbaijan.
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Call
on the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to open an
official inquiry into Azerbaijan's implementation of the European
Convention on Human Rights under Article 52 and insist on the
Azerbaijani government’s full cooperation in the process.
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Enable
PACE oversight of the Council of Europe’s renewal of its Action
Plan with Azerbaijan to ensure that any cooperation, including
funding, is guided by measurable improvements in human rights and
democratic practices and in particular addresses the issues
concerning civil society identified by the ECtHR. Any such
cooperation should include civil society and human rights defenders.
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Through
its Sub-Committee on the Implementation of Judgments, closely follow
and engage with the Committee of Ministers' work on the execution
of ECtHR judgments, particularly the Mammadli
and
Ramazanova
groups of cases.
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Ahead
of the January 2025 vote on the renewal of Azerbaijan’s
credentials, develop and enforce clear criteria that Azerbaijan must
meet prior to the ratification of the credentials, in particular
those outlined by the PACE Monitoring Committee in its 2024 Report
15927 on honoring obligations and commitments by Azerbaijan.
These
criteria should include:
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Immediate and
unconditional release of anyone arrested on fabricated charges in
retaliation for their dissenting views, including dozens of
unjustly detained civic activists, journalists, and human rights
defenders; ending retaliation and politically motivated
prosecutions; and full restoration of civil and political rights.
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Immediate
implementation of ECtHR judgments regarding politically motivated
imprisonment, both general and individual measures.
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Immediate resumption
of full cooperation with PACE rapporteurs and the CPT, including
granting access to all detention facilities and implementing the
Committee’s long-standing recommendations to prevent torture and
ill-treatment.
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Amendments to the
restrictive legislation and arbitrary procedure for the
registration of NGOs, including the cumbersome reporting
requirements, and excessive powers granted to the Justice Ministry
to monitor and control NGO operations, as noted by the PACE
Monitoring Committee in its February 2024 report.
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Azerbaijani
authorities should address the ongoing restrictions on the right to
freedom of expression, association and assembly and the overall
repressive environment for civil society representatives.
The
ongoing crackdown also raises grave concerns over the ability of
human rights defenders, independent journalists, and other civil
society actors to participate meaningfully in COP29,
to be held in Baku from November 11 to 22.
Civil society’s participation during the conference is crucial for
ensuring rights-respecting and ambitious climate outcomes. The rare
international spotlight on Azerbaijan as it prepares to host COP29
underscores the urgency for PACE to express its strong concern and
demand that the government take concrete steps to protect these
voices.
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