“Breaking Point in Azerbaijan”: A new report paints a bleak picture of human rights

A ground-breaking report documents a variety of methods and strategies that Azerbaijani authorities are using to silence civil society.


Sources: Human Rights House, Freedom Now

While Azerbaijani authorities continue to tighten screws over civil society and silence dissident voices, the government is presenting the polished image of a prosperous European state to outsiders, according to a



report



released by Washington DC-based NGO Freedom Now and the Human Rights House Network on May 12, 2015.

The just-released study, titled “Breaking point in Azerbaijan: Promotion and glamour abroad, Repression and imprisonment at home,” provides a comprehensive analysis of the methods Azerbaijani authorities are using to crack down on civil society.

 “It is clear that Azerbaijan has reached a breaking point,” said Maran Turner, Executive Director of Freedom Now. “Since 2009, Azerbaijan has adopted legislation, in direct opposition to the country’s obligations under international law, which restricts the rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and association and criminalises the right to be a human rights defender. This legislation reveals a regime which has no intent to fulfil its obligations to the international community or its own citizens.”


Strategies of coercion

According to the authors of the report, the Azerbaijani authorities employ three strategies to muzzle critics: “patently politically-motivated charges” (inciting hatred, mass disorder, and treason); “fabricated charges” (drug and weapon charges, and hooliganism), and “special “organization-directed charges” (charges of illegal business activity, abuse of office, etc.).

“The Azerbaijani authorities must immediately and unconditionally release and rehabilitate all leading civil society actors,” said Florian Irminger, Head of Advocacy at the Human Rights House Foundation. “The authorities must also conduct a prompt, thorough, and impartial investigation into all cases of detention, torture, and other human rights abuses directed against human rights defenders, journalists and activists, and provide appropriate compensation to the victims of such violations. Until that time, the international community must cease sending high level representatives to economic, sporting, and cultural events organised in Azerbaijan.”

Furthermore,

the report probes the wrongful imprisonment of leading civil society actors, such as Intigam Aliyev,



Rasul Jafarov



, Leyla Yunus, and her husband Arif Yunus, independent election observer Anar Mammadli, investigate journalist

Khadija Ismailova

, and opposition leader Ilgar Mammadov.

The report documents serious procedural and due process violations before and during the trials of “prisoners of conscience,” including incidents of torture or mistreatment, lack of access to lawyers, dismissal of routine motions, and exclusion of vital evidence introduced by defence lawyers.


What the international community can do

In conclusion, the report recommends that the international community adopt a raft of measures to pressure Azerbaijan, such as call for the immediate and unconditional release of all leading civil society actors, stop honouring events held in Azerbaijan with their presence at opening and closing ceremonies, and suspend the credentials of the delegation of Azerbaijan to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Additionally, the international community should request that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights present to the Human Rights Council a comprehensive report on the human rights situation in Azerbaijan and apply targeted sanctions against those responsible for human rights violations.

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