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Ex-oil company chief charged in alleged Azerbaijan coup plot

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  • Ex-oil company chief charged in alleged Azerbaijan coup plot

    Ex-oil company chief charged in alleged Azerbaijan coup plot; lawyer cries
    foul
    The Associated Press

    Published: September 29, 2006


    BAKU, Azerbaijan A former oil executive has been charged in connection
    with an alleged coup plot in Azerbaijan last year, his lawyer said
    Friday.

    Separately, an American lawyer for Rafiq Aliev said authorities had
    violated Azerbaijani law and international human rights norms in the
    case.

    Aliev was charged Thursday with involvement in what Azerbaijani
    officials say was a plot to overthrow President Ilham Aliev, said his
    lawyer, Rafiq Quliyev.

    Rafiq Aliev is former chief of the private oil company Azpetrol and
    brother of former Economic Development Minister Farhad Aliev, one of a
    dozen people arrested before parliamentary elections last November in
    connection with the alleged plot.

    The opposition says the arrests were part of an effort by the
    government to manipulate the vote, which Western observers criticized
    as flawed.

    The Aliev brothers, who are not related to the president, were both
    arrested last October, but Rafiq Aliev had not been charged with
    participation in the plot. He had previously been charged on three
    unrelated counts, including smuggling, Quliyev said.

    Meanwhile, Farhad Aliev denounced accusations against him as unfounded
    in a statement from prison released by his lawyers Friday, and said
    that he had been subjected to blackmail and "psychological pressure"
    while in custody.

    Authorities accuse an opposition leader living in exile, Rasul
    Guliyev, of masterminding the alleged coup plot.

    The government of Ilham Aliev - like that of his late father, Geidar
    Aliev, before him - has persecuted the opposition, breaking up
    demonstrations, jailing its activists and directing state-run
    television to smear its leaders.

    Charles Both, a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer for Farhad and Rafiq
    Aliev, said the authorities have violated both Azerbaijani law and
    international human rights norms.

    "My clients' right to have a fair and free and effective remedy
    ... has been violated. My clients' right to freedom from
    discrimination on political grounds has clearly been violated," Both
    told a news conference.

    He said authorities had violated the presumption of innocence by
    referring to the accused as criminals even though they have not been
    tried.

    Both said he arrived in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, on Monday and
    appealed to the prosecutor general's office the same day with a
    request tomeet with his clients, but received no response.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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