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Amnesty International: "There were persistent reports of the use of
torture or other ill-treatment by law enforcement officials"
30 May 2008 [10:42] - Today.Az
Today.Az offers you the full text of the report of Amnesty
International "The state of the world's human rights - 2008" on
Azerbaijan.
Freedoms of expression and assembly continued to be widely restricted.
Independent and opposition journalists faced imprisonment on libel
charges, harassment by law enforcement officials and, in some cases,
physical assault. Two widely read opposition newspapers were shut down;
five journalists were pardoned and released at the end of the year.
Three teenagers were imprisoned for 10 years without investigation into
allegations that they had confessed under torture. Human rights
activists were intimidated. An ethnic Azeri activist was extradited to
Iran despite risk of torture or other ill-treatment. Internally
displaced people were prevented from fully exercising their social and
economic rights.
Freedom of expression - journalists
The right to freedom of expression, particularly for journalists
reporting on corruption, other abuses of public office or
socio-economic problems, continued to be routinely restricted. One
journalist was severely beaten by unknown men; two journalists were
reportedly beaten by law enforcement officials. Editions of opposition
newspapers carrying politically sensitive reporting were confiscated or
banned from sale by local government bodies. No progress was made in
investigations into the 2005 murder of newspaper editor Elmar Hüseynov
or serious assaults perpetrated against journalists in 2006 by unknown
men.
* A persistent campaign targeting Eynulla Fetullayev, outspoken editor
of the popular opposition newspapers Real Azerbaijan (Realny
Azerbaydzhan) and Azerbaijan Daily (Gündelik Azerbaycan), resulted in
two separate trials in April and October respectively. In April, he was
sentenced to 30 months' imprisonment for defaming victims and survivors
of killings in the village of Xocalı during the 1991-1994 war in
Nagorny Karabakh. He denied authorship of the internet postings, of
unclear origin, on which the case was based. In May, both newspapers
closed after a series of inspections of their premises by state
authorities, apparently aimed at shutting the newspapers down. In
October, Eynulla Fetullayev was sentenced to eight and a half years'
imprisonment on separate charges of terrorism, incitement of ethnic
hatred and tax evasion. He denied all charges against him. Amnesty
International considered him a prisoner of conscience.
* Four other opposition or independent journalists and editors, Faramaz
NovruzoÄ?lu, YaÅ?ar Agazade, RovÅ?an Kebirli and Nazim Quliyev, were
imprisoned on charges of libel and insult after publishing articles
about high-ranking political figures or alleging corruption in public
office. Faramaz NovruzoÄ?lu, YaÅ?ar Agazade and RovÅ?an Kebirli were
pardoned and released in December. Nazim Quliyev was also released in
December by court order.
* Journalist Rafiq TaÄ?i and editor Samir SedeqetoÄ?lu of the Art (Sanat)
newspaper were sentenced in May to three and four years' imprisonment
respectively for incitement of religious hatred after writing and
publishing an article critical of Islam. Amnesty International
considered both men prisoners of conscience, having found nothing in
the article that could be construed as incitement to hostility,
violence or discrimination. Both men were pardoned and released in
December.
* A serious assault on opposition journalist Ã`zeyir Ceferov by unknown
men in April, on the same day as he testified in defence of Eynulla
Fetullayev (see above), was unsolved at the end of 2007.
* In September, reporter Süheyle Qemberova of the Impulse (Impuls)
newspaper was reportedly beaten by court officials while researching an
article on forced evictions. She was hospitalized after being kicked
and punched.
* In Naxçivan (an Azerbaijani exclave bordered to the south by Iran and
to the east by Armenia), Hekimeldostu Mehdiyev, journalist for the
opposition New Equality (Yeni Müsavat) newspaper, was seized by police,
allegedly beaten and detained for four days in September after
reporting on socio-economic problems in the region.
* Qenimet Zahid, chief editor of the opposition Freedom (Azadlıq)
newspaper and brother of imprisoned satirist Sakit Zahidov, was charged
in November with hooliganism and causing bodily harm after an incident
with two passers-by he claimed was orchestrated by the authorities. His
case was still pending at the end of the year.
Police - excessive use of force
Police reportedly used excessive force to prevent journalists from
reporting or filming politically sensitive events such as opposition
party rallies. In June, about 200 police officers dispersed an
unauthorized rally by some 50 journalists against protesting the
curtailment of freedom of speech. Journalists at the rally were kicked
and punched, and one had to be hospitalized with stomach injuries. In
July, President Ilham Aliyev declared that no police officer would face
criminal prosecution for allegedly beating journalists during the 2005
parliamentary elections. Human rights activists condemned the comment
as contributing to a climate of impunity for the use of force by police
against journalists.
Torture and other ill-treatment
There were persistent reports of the use of torture or other
ill-treatment by law enforcement officials. In October, the deputy
Minister of Internal Affairs, Vilayet Eyvazov, stated at a press
conference that police officers occasionally use torture when
interrogating suspects in pre-trial detention.
* In June, the Court of Grave Crimes sentenced teenagers Dmitri Pavlov,
Maksim Genashilkin and Ruslan Bessonov, accused of murdering another
teenager, Vüsal Zeynalov, to 10 years' imprisonment after a trial
characterized by serious irregularities. The boys' allegations that
they had incriminated one another under torture following their arrest
in March 2005 had not been investigated. The boys' parents told Amnesty
International they believed their sons were targeted on account of
their Russian ethnicity, allowing the crime to be construed as
ethnically motivated since Vüsal Zeynalov was an ethnic Azeri.
Human rights defenders
Law enforcement agents reportedly intimidated human rights defenders,
and in one case, failed to intervene to protect an NGO from
intimidation.
* In April, Javid Aliyev, the son of Akifa Aliyeva , Helsinki Citizens'
Assembly coordinator in the city of Ganja, was arrested and sentenced
to three days' imprisonment for refusal to co-operate with police after
being questioned about hanging a curtain in the rear window of his car.
The arrest followed alleged threats from local police that Akifa
Aliyeva's human rights activism was putting her children in danger.
* On 5 July, members of the Modern Equality (Müasir Müsavat) party
picketed outside the office of the Institute for Peace and Democracy.
They threw eggs and other objects at the office, but police officers
present did not intervene.
Deportation and extradition
The authorities continued to extradite people despite risk of torture
or other ill-treatment.
* In April, Hadi Sid Javad Musevi , an Iranian citizen and ethnic Azeri
activist of the Southern Azerbaijan National Awakening Movement (SANAM)
was extradited to Iran. Hadi Musevi had fled to Azerbaijan in 2006
after reportedly being arrested and tortured in Iran.
* In May, the UN Committee against Torture ruled that the extradition
of Elif Pelit (a Turkish citizen of Kurdish ethnicity) to Turkey in
October 2006, breached international obligations against forcible
return to states where there is a risk of torture.
In another case, people were deported without being given access to
appeal procedures.
* Six Jehovah's Witnesses, consisting of one Dutch, one British, two
Russian and two Georgian citizens, were deported in January on the
basis of administrative deportation orders, which do not require any
court hearings. According to the authorities they were deported for
violating the law against foreigners conducting religious agitation.
The deportations followed a raid on a Jehovah's Witnesses meeting in
December 2006, at which the authorities claimed to have confiscated
technological equipment suitable for espionage activities, an
allegation the Jehovah's Witnesses denied. Those deported were
reportedly not allowed to appeal.
Internally displaced people
Hundreds of thousands of people internally displaced by the conflict in
Nagorny Karabakh in 1991-94 continued to face obstacles preventing them
from enjoying their economic and social rights. These included reported
restrictions on their freedom of movement, resettlement in economically
impoverished and isolated locations, difficulties with registering new
family units, and the absence of consultative mechanisms.
In September the State Committee on Refugees and Internally Displaced
People offered Amnesty International assurances that all displaced
people enjoyed uninhibited freedom of movement in the country, while
acknowledging problems with the registration of new family units and
stating that continued efforts were required to secure the economic and
social rights of vulnerable urban displaced people.
To this end, the State Committee had prepared a programme addressing
the needs of urban displaced people housed in former municipal
buildings, schools and barracks. However, people resettled following
displacement continued to be denied legal tenure of their new
accommodation, which was defined as `temporary'. This compromised their
capacity to exercise the right to choose between eventual return should
a peace settlement be reached, integration or permanent resettlement
elsewhere in the country.
torture or other ill-treatment by law enforcement officials"
30 May 2008 [10:42] - Today.Az
Today.Az offers you the full text of the report of Amnesty
International "The state of the world's human rights - 2008" on
Azerbaijan.
Freedoms of expression and assembly continued to be widely restricted.
Independent and opposition journalists faced imprisonment on libel
charges, harassment by law enforcement officials and, in some cases,
physical assault. Two widely read opposition newspapers were shut down;
five journalists were pardoned and released at the end of the year.
Three teenagers were imprisoned for 10 years without investigation into
allegations that they had confessed under torture. Human rights
activists were intimidated. An ethnic Azeri activist was extradited to
Iran despite risk of torture or other ill-treatment. Internally
displaced people were prevented from fully exercising their social and
economic rights.
Freedom of expression - journalists
The right to freedom of expression, particularly for journalists
reporting on corruption, other abuses of public office or
socio-economic problems, continued to be routinely restricted. One
journalist was severely beaten by unknown men; two journalists were
reportedly beaten by law enforcement officials. Editions of opposition
newspapers carrying politically sensitive reporting were confiscated or
banned from sale by local government bodies. No progress was made in
investigations into the 2005 murder of newspaper editor Elmar Hüseynov
or serious assaults perpetrated against journalists in 2006 by unknown
men.
* A persistent campaign targeting Eynulla Fetullayev, outspoken editor
of the popular opposition newspapers Real Azerbaijan (Realny
Azerbaydzhan) and Azerbaijan Daily (Gündelik Azerbaycan), resulted in
two separate trials in April and October respectively. In April, he was
sentenced to 30 months' imprisonment for defaming victims and survivors
of killings in the village of Xocalı during the 1991-1994 war in
Nagorny Karabakh. He denied authorship of the internet postings, of
unclear origin, on which the case was based. In May, both newspapers
closed after a series of inspections of their premises by state
authorities, apparently aimed at shutting the newspapers down. In
October, Eynulla Fetullayev was sentenced to eight and a half years'
imprisonment on separate charges of terrorism, incitement of ethnic
hatred and tax evasion. He denied all charges against him. Amnesty
International considered him a prisoner of conscience.
* Four other opposition or independent journalists and editors, Faramaz
NovruzoÄ?lu, YaÅ?ar Agazade, RovÅ?an Kebirli and Nazim Quliyev, were
imprisoned on charges of libel and insult after publishing articles
about high-ranking political figures or alleging corruption in public
office. Faramaz NovruzoÄ?lu, YaÅ?ar Agazade and RovÅ?an Kebirli were
pardoned and released in December. Nazim Quliyev was also released in
December by court order.
* Journalist Rafiq TaÄ?i and editor Samir SedeqetoÄ?lu of the Art (Sanat)
newspaper were sentenced in May to three and four years' imprisonment
respectively for incitement of religious hatred after writing and
publishing an article critical of Islam. Amnesty International
considered both men prisoners of conscience, having found nothing in
the article that could be construed as incitement to hostility,
violence or discrimination. Both men were pardoned and released in
December.
* A serious assault on opposition journalist Ã`zeyir Ceferov by unknown
men in April, on the same day as he testified in defence of Eynulla
Fetullayev (see above), was unsolved at the end of 2007.
* In September, reporter Süheyle Qemberova of the Impulse (Impuls)
newspaper was reportedly beaten by court officials while researching an
article on forced evictions. She was hospitalized after being kicked
and punched.
* In Naxçivan (an Azerbaijani exclave bordered to the south by Iran and
to the east by Armenia), Hekimeldostu Mehdiyev, journalist for the
opposition New Equality (Yeni Müsavat) newspaper, was seized by police,
allegedly beaten and detained for four days in September after
reporting on socio-economic problems in the region.
* Qenimet Zahid, chief editor of the opposition Freedom (Azadlıq)
newspaper and brother of imprisoned satirist Sakit Zahidov, was charged
in November with hooliganism and causing bodily harm after an incident
with two passers-by he claimed was orchestrated by the authorities. His
case was still pending at the end of the year.
Police - excessive use of force
Police reportedly used excessive force to prevent journalists from
reporting or filming politically sensitive events such as opposition
party rallies. In June, about 200 police officers dispersed an
unauthorized rally by some 50 journalists against protesting the
curtailment of freedom of speech. Journalists at the rally were kicked
and punched, and one had to be hospitalized with stomach injuries. In
July, President Ilham Aliyev declared that no police officer would face
criminal prosecution for allegedly beating journalists during the 2005
parliamentary elections. Human rights activists condemned the comment
as contributing to a climate of impunity for the use of force by police
against journalists.
Torture and other ill-treatment
There were persistent reports of the use of torture or other
ill-treatment by law enforcement officials. In October, the deputy
Minister of Internal Affairs, Vilayet Eyvazov, stated at a press
conference that police officers occasionally use torture when
interrogating suspects in pre-trial detention.
* In June, the Court of Grave Crimes sentenced teenagers Dmitri Pavlov,
Maksim Genashilkin and Ruslan Bessonov, accused of murdering another
teenager, Vüsal Zeynalov, to 10 years' imprisonment after a trial
characterized by serious irregularities. The boys' allegations that
they had incriminated one another under torture following their arrest
in March 2005 had not been investigated. The boys' parents told Amnesty
International they believed their sons were targeted on account of
their Russian ethnicity, allowing the crime to be construed as
ethnically motivated since Vüsal Zeynalov was an ethnic Azeri.
Human rights defenders
Law enforcement agents reportedly intimidated human rights defenders,
and in one case, failed to intervene to protect an NGO from
intimidation.
* In April, Javid Aliyev, the son of Akifa Aliyeva , Helsinki Citizens'
Assembly coordinator in the city of Ganja, was arrested and sentenced
to three days' imprisonment for refusal to co-operate with police after
being questioned about hanging a curtain in the rear window of his car.
The arrest followed alleged threats from local police that Akifa
Aliyeva's human rights activism was putting her children in danger.
* On 5 July, members of the Modern Equality (Müasir Müsavat) party
picketed outside the office of the Institute for Peace and Democracy.
They threw eggs and other objects at the office, but police officers
present did not intervene.
Deportation and extradition
The authorities continued to extradite people despite risk of torture
or other ill-treatment.
* In April, Hadi Sid Javad Musevi , an Iranian citizen and ethnic Azeri
activist of the Southern Azerbaijan National Awakening Movement (SANAM)
was extradited to Iran. Hadi Musevi had fled to Azerbaijan in 2006
after reportedly being arrested and tortured in Iran.
* In May, the UN Committee against Torture ruled that the extradition
of Elif Pelit (a Turkish citizen of Kurdish ethnicity) to Turkey in
October 2006, breached international obligations against forcible
return to states where there is a risk of torture.
In another case, people were deported without being given access to
appeal procedures.
* Six Jehovah's Witnesses, consisting of one Dutch, one British, two
Russian and two Georgian citizens, were deported in January on the
basis of administrative deportation orders, which do not require any
court hearings. According to the authorities they were deported for
violating the law against foreigners conducting religious agitation.
The deportations followed a raid on a Jehovah's Witnesses meeting in
December 2006, at which the authorities claimed to have confiscated
technological equipment suitable for espionage activities, an
allegation the Jehovah's Witnesses denied. Those deported were
reportedly not allowed to appeal.
Internally displaced people
Hundreds of thousands of people internally displaced by the conflict in
Nagorny Karabakh in 1991-94 continued to face obstacles preventing them
from enjoying their economic and social rights. These included reported
restrictions on their freedom of movement, resettlement in economically
impoverished and isolated locations, difficulties with registering new
family units, and the absence of consultative mechanisms.
In September the State Committee on Refugees and Internally Displaced
People offered Amnesty International assurances that all displaced
people enjoyed uninhibited freedom of movement in the country, while
acknowledging problems with the registration of new family units and
stating that continued efforts were required to secure the economic and
social rights of vulnerable urban displaced people.
To this end, the State Committee had prepared a programme addressing
the needs of urban displaced people housed in former municipal
buildings, schools and barracks. However, people resettled following
displacement continued to be denied legal tenure of their new
accommodation, which was defined as `temporary'. This compromised their
capacity to exercise the right to choose between eventual return should
a peace settlement be reached, integration or permanent resettlement
elsewhere in the country.