Elchin Sadiqov, a member of the Collegium of Lawyers of the Republic of Azerbaijan, appealed to Attorney General Zakir Qaralov and to the Minister of Internal Affairs in connection to threats he received after the conclusion of the October 25 trial of Qiyas Ibrahimov.
Sadiqov wrote:
“I … have been defending the rights of journalists, political and social activists of the country. It is namely for this reason that I have received numerous threats in the past. But they have never been successful in frightening me or forcing me to turn away from my mission.
On the 27th of August, at the Main Directorate for Combatting Organized Crime, where I often appear given my line of work, I was openly threatened in the presence of numerous witnesses.
On October 25, after the trial of Qiyas Ibrahimov who was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, I received numerous cyber-attacks via e-mail and my Facebook page was inundated with virus. As a result, my phone was blocked for 4 – 6 hours and I was unable to be reached.
I also received threats in connection to the case of journalist Fikret Faramazoglu, and they tried to force me off the case. On November 2, at 11.21, I again appeared at the Main Directorate for Combatting Organized Crime in order to retrieve investigative materials related to the case. Finally, the investigator brought them, and simultaneously asked who is the manager of the internet site jam.az, to which I answered that I was not in possession of such information.
The investigator stated that it is forbidden to share information pertaining to the employees of the Directorate, and that to act contrary to this law would cost both myself and Fikret Faramazoglu dearly.
He also said that he will speak about this issue with Fikret Faramazoglu himself.
I believe that all of this is being done because of my professional activities, despite [it] being defended by article 61 of our constitution. And the government is obliged to put an end to such threats and to bring those responsible for them to justice. I hope that such steps in regards to my safety and defense and that of my family will be taken in accordance with the legislation of the country.”
Elchin Sadiqov told Meydan TV that his spouse, Zubeyda Sadiqova also received such threats, and photographs of her with inappropriate captions were posted on social networking sites.
In response to Meydan TV’s question about what steps he expects will be taken in connection to his appeal, the lawyer answered that “hopefully, they will at least stop threatening me. And if the in future it happens again, then the responsibility will already be theirs. For that reason I wrote this appeal.”
The lawyer stated that he will treat these threats as a legal case and, if need be, intends to submit a case to the European Court of Human Rights.
