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HRW: AZERBAIJAN REMAINS AN AREA OF SERIOUS VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS
http://azerireport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3858&Ite mid=53
BAKU. January 31, 2013: The Human Rights Watch released its annual
report on the state of human rights in the world in 2012. The section
devoted to Azerbaijan, reads that that the atmosphere with political
activists, independent journalists and opposition was openly hostile.
The government used the arrests as an instrument of political revenge
and force to disperse peaceful demonstrations.
Azerbaijan hosted the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, casting an
international spotlight on the government's deteriorating human rights
record. The atmosphere for political activists and independent and
pro-opposition journalists grew acutely hostile. Authorities used
imprisonment as a tool for political retribution and forcibly dispersed
a number of peaceful demonstrations, indiscriminately arresting
activists and passersby. Restrictions on freedom of religion and the
prosecution of unregistered religious groups continued. The government
intensified its urban renewal campaign in the capital Baku, forcibly
evicting thousands of families and illegally demolishing homes.
Foreign actors failed to fully realize the potential of their
relationships with the government to press it to honor its human
rights obligations.
The report mentions the case of bloggers and journalists: Bakhtiyar
Hajiyev, Avaz Zeynalli, Anar Bayramli, Zaur Guliyev and Vugar Gonagova,
Hilal Mammadov, Idrak Abbasov, Khadija Ismayilova, etc.
The government limited freedom of assembly by breaking up peaceful
protests, in some cases violently, and arresting protesters. In March,
at the first sanctioned opposition protest since 2006, police detained
two popular musicians as they played at the peaceful gathering. Police
beat and denied them access to their lawyer. They were released after
five and ten days of detention.
In April, police detained 20 activists distributing flyers encouraging
people to attend an opposition rally. Courts sentenced 7 of the
activists to 10 to 15 days of detention, and fined or released others.
In the days before and during May's Eurovision Song Contest, police
broke up several protests in Baku's center. Police rounded up dozens
of peaceful demonstrators, forcing them onto buses, and beating some
as they did so. The demonstrators were released several hours later.
In October, police rounded up dozens of protesters in an unsanctioned
rally in central Baku, roughed them up and forced them into buses.
Courts imprisoned 13 on misdemeanor charges for up to 10 days, and
fined several others.
In November, the parliament increased sanctions for participating and
organizing unauthorized protests, establishing fines of up to 1,000
AZN ($ 1,274) for participation, and 3,000 ($ 3,822) for organization.
Imprisonment on politically motivated charges is a continuing problem.
A June 2012 report by a committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe (PACE) described the cases of 89 political
prisoners in Azerbaijan. Just before the report's publication, nine
were released under a presidential pardon. The PACE report documents
the cases of journalists, human rights defenders, and activists who
remain in detention in Azerbaijan on a range of trumped-up charges
in retaliation for their work.
Torture and ill-treatment continue with impunity, and two men died
in police custody in 2012. In the first eight months of 2012, the
Azerbaijan Committee Against Torture, an independent prison monitoring
group, received 136 complaints alleging ill-treatment in custody.
Since 2008, the authorities in Azerbaijan have been implementing a
program of urban renewal in Baku, involving illegal expropriation of
hundreds of properties-primarily apartments and homes in middle class
neighborhoods-to make way for parks, roads, and luxury residential
buildings. Most evictees have not received fair compensation based on
market values of their properties. In 2012, hundreds of homeowners
were affected as the authorities accelerated construction for the
Eurovision Song Contest.
The government continued to tighten restrictions on freedom
of religion. In December 2011, the president signed legislative
amendments criminalizing the illegal production, distribution,
and import of religious literature not approved by the state; they
were previously administrative offenses. A new criminal code article
punishes the creation of a group that undermines social order under
the guise of carrying out religious work.
According to Forum 18, an independent international religious
freedom monitoring group, police raided several private homes on
religion-related grounds.
Police arrested two human rights defenders associated with Kur
Civil Union in retaliation for protecting flood victims in southern
Azerbaijan. In April 2012, police arrested Ogtay Gulaliyev, the
organization's coordinator, and charged him with hooliganism. In
June, police released him, pending investigation and arrested
Ilham Amiraslanov, another Kur activist. In September, a court
sentenced Amiraslanov to two years imprisonment on trumped-up weapons
possession charges. No investigation was made into Gulaliyev's claim
of ill-treatment in custody, and after a preliminary inquiry the
prosecutor's office refused to investigate an ill-treatment complaint
by Amiraslanov.
In April, a court sentenced Taleh Khasmammadov, a blogger and human
rights defender from Goychay, to a four-year prison term on charges of
hooliganism and physically assaulting a public official. Khasmammadov
investigated allegations of abuse and corruption by law enforcement
officials. Another human rights defender from Goychay region, Vidadi
Isganderov, remained in jail after being convicted in August 2011 on
false charges of interfering with parliamentary elections.
Azerbaijan Human Rights House, a member of the International Human
Rights House Network, remained closed following the Ministry of
Justice suspending its registration in March 2011.
While expressing concern about Azerbaijan's worsening human rights
record, the European Union, United States, and other international
and regional institutions did not impose policy consequences or make
their engagement with Azerbaijan conditional on concrete improvements.
A great number of foreign governments and international organizations
condemned President Ilham Aliyev's decision to pardon Ramil Safarov,
a military officer, whom Hungary extradited to Azerbaijan so that he
could serve out his life imprisonment term there. In 2004, a Hungarian
court convicted Safarov for murdering an Armenian colleague at a
NATO-sponsored training in Budapest. Safarov confessed to the crime,
which he justified by citing his victim's ethnicity.
The EU, Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE),
and the US Embassy in Baku all condemned the assault on journalist
Idrak Abbasov, and called on the government to launch a prompt and
thorough investigation, to no avail.
In its May European Neighborhood Policy progress report, the EU
highlighted Azerbaijan's failure to meet its commitments regarding
electoral processes, human rights protections, and judicial
independence. It also, for the first time, addressed concrete
recommendations to the authorities.
The European Broadcasting Union, which oversaw the Eurovision Song
Contest, made a public commitment to promote freedom of expression
in Azerbaijan, but declined to take a strong public stand on the
Azerbaijani government's record. It also refused to urge the government
to properly compensate homeowners whose apartments were demolished in
connection with the construction of Eurovision-related infrastructure.
While in Baku in June, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met
with Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, and urged the authorities to release others
imprisoned on politically motivated charges.
In a landmark vote on June 26, the Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Committee of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly adopted
a report on political prisoners in Azerbaijan. The government had
refused to cooperate with the committee's rapporteur and denied him
access to Azerbaijan.
In its March 2012 concluding observations, the UN Committee on the
Rights of the Child (CRC) criticized Azerbaijan, for, inter alia,
the lack of improvement in the juvenile justice system, and the lack
of alternatives to institutionalization for children without families
(Turan).
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
http://azerireport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3858&Ite mid=53
BAKU. January 31, 2013: The Human Rights Watch released its annual
report on the state of human rights in the world in 2012. The section
devoted to Azerbaijan, reads that that the atmosphere with political
activists, independent journalists and opposition was openly hostile.
The government used the arrests as an instrument of political revenge
and force to disperse peaceful demonstrations.
Azerbaijan hosted the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, casting an
international spotlight on the government's deteriorating human rights
record. The atmosphere for political activists and independent and
pro-opposition journalists grew acutely hostile. Authorities used
imprisonment as a tool for political retribution and forcibly dispersed
a number of peaceful demonstrations, indiscriminately arresting
activists and passersby. Restrictions on freedom of religion and the
prosecution of unregistered religious groups continued. The government
intensified its urban renewal campaign in the capital Baku, forcibly
evicting thousands of families and illegally demolishing homes.
Foreign actors failed to fully realize the potential of their
relationships with the government to press it to honor its human
rights obligations.
The report mentions the case of bloggers and journalists: Bakhtiyar
Hajiyev, Avaz Zeynalli, Anar Bayramli, Zaur Guliyev and Vugar Gonagova,
Hilal Mammadov, Idrak Abbasov, Khadija Ismayilova, etc.
The government limited freedom of assembly by breaking up peaceful
protests, in some cases violently, and arresting protesters. In March,
at the first sanctioned opposition protest since 2006, police detained
two popular musicians as they played at the peaceful gathering. Police
beat and denied them access to their lawyer. They were released after
five and ten days of detention.
In April, police detained 20 activists distributing flyers encouraging
people to attend an opposition rally. Courts sentenced 7 of the
activists to 10 to 15 days of detention, and fined or released others.
In the days before and during May's Eurovision Song Contest, police
broke up several protests in Baku's center. Police rounded up dozens
of peaceful demonstrators, forcing them onto buses, and beating some
as they did so. The demonstrators were released several hours later.
In October, police rounded up dozens of protesters in an unsanctioned
rally in central Baku, roughed them up and forced them into buses.
Courts imprisoned 13 on misdemeanor charges for up to 10 days, and
fined several others.
In November, the parliament increased sanctions for participating and
organizing unauthorized protests, establishing fines of up to 1,000
AZN ($ 1,274) for participation, and 3,000 ($ 3,822) for organization.
Imprisonment on politically motivated charges is a continuing problem.
A June 2012 report by a committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe (PACE) described the cases of 89 political
prisoners in Azerbaijan. Just before the report's publication, nine
were released under a presidential pardon. The PACE report documents
the cases of journalists, human rights defenders, and activists who
remain in detention in Azerbaijan on a range of trumped-up charges
in retaliation for their work.
Torture and ill-treatment continue with impunity, and two men died
in police custody in 2012. In the first eight months of 2012, the
Azerbaijan Committee Against Torture, an independent prison monitoring
group, received 136 complaints alleging ill-treatment in custody.
Since 2008, the authorities in Azerbaijan have been implementing a
program of urban renewal in Baku, involving illegal expropriation of
hundreds of properties-primarily apartments and homes in middle class
neighborhoods-to make way for parks, roads, and luxury residential
buildings. Most evictees have not received fair compensation based on
market values of their properties. In 2012, hundreds of homeowners
were affected as the authorities accelerated construction for the
Eurovision Song Contest.
The government continued to tighten restrictions on freedom
of religion. In December 2011, the president signed legislative
amendments criminalizing the illegal production, distribution,
and import of religious literature not approved by the state; they
were previously administrative offenses. A new criminal code article
punishes the creation of a group that undermines social order under
the guise of carrying out religious work.
According to Forum 18, an independent international religious
freedom monitoring group, police raided several private homes on
religion-related grounds.
Police arrested two human rights defenders associated with Kur
Civil Union in retaliation for protecting flood victims in southern
Azerbaijan. In April 2012, police arrested Ogtay Gulaliyev, the
organization's coordinator, and charged him with hooliganism. In
June, police released him, pending investigation and arrested
Ilham Amiraslanov, another Kur activist. In September, a court
sentenced Amiraslanov to two years imprisonment on trumped-up weapons
possession charges. No investigation was made into Gulaliyev's claim
of ill-treatment in custody, and after a preliminary inquiry the
prosecutor's office refused to investigate an ill-treatment complaint
by Amiraslanov.
In April, a court sentenced Taleh Khasmammadov, a blogger and human
rights defender from Goychay, to a four-year prison term on charges of
hooliganism and physically assaulting a public official. Khasmammadov
investigated allegations of abuse and corruption by law enforcement
officials. Another human rights defender from Goychay region, Vidadi
Isganderov, remained in jail after being convicted in August 2011 on
false charges of interfering with parliamentary elections.
Azerbaijan Human Rights House, a member of the International Human
Rights House Network, remained closed following the Ministry of
Justice suspending its registration in March 2011.
While expressing concern about Azerbaijan's worsening human rights
record, the European Union, United States, and other international
and regional institutions did not impose policy consequences or make
their engagement with Azerbaijan conditional on concrete improvements.
A great number of foreign governments and international organizations
condemned President Ilham Aliyev's decision to pardon Ramil Safarov,
a military officer, whom Hungary extradited to Azerbaijan so that he
could serve out his life imprisonment term there. In 2004, a Hungarian
court convicted Safarov for murdering an Armenian colleague at a
NATO-sponsored training in Budapest. Safarov confessed to the crime,
which he justified by citing his victim's ethnicity.
The EU, Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE),
and the US Embassy in Baku all condemned the assault on journalist
Idrak Abbasov, and called on the government to launch a prompt and
thorough investigation, to no avail.
In its May European Neighborhood Policy progress report, the EU
highlighted Azerbaijan's failure to meet its commitments regarding
electoral processes, human rights protections, and judicial
independence. It also, for the first time, addressed concrete
recommendations to the authorities.
The European Broadcasting Union, which oversaw the Eurovision Song
Contest, made a public commitment to promote freedom of expression
in Azerbaijan, but declined to take a strong public stand on the
Azerbaijani government's record. It also refused to urge the government
to properly compensate homeowners whose apartments were demolished in
connection with the construction of Eurovision-related infrastructure.
While in Baku in June, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met
with Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, and urged the authorities to release others
imprisoned on politically motivated charges.
In a landmark vote on June 26, the Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Committee of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly adopted
a report on political prisoners in Azerbaijan. The government had
refused to cooperate with the committee's rapporteur and denied him
access to Azerbaijan.
In its March 2012 concluding observations, the UN Committee on the
Rights of the Child (CRC) criticized Azerbaijan, for, inter alia,
the lack of improvement in the juvenile justice system, and the lack
of alternatives to institutionalization for children without families
(Turan).
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress