“Since the October 2013 presidential election, we are seeing a new wave of repression against critical voices throughout the country,” says Maria Dahle, Executive Director of the Human Rights House Foundation.

Anar Mammadli, Chairperson of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies CentreIn relation to the presidential election, the Chairperson of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre (EMDS) Anar Mammadli, the Executive Director of EMDS Bashir Suleymanli and Elnur Mammadov, president of the Volunteers of International Cooperation were brought to court on far-fetched charges. The court held the third hearing in this case on Monday 5 May and, at the end of it, decided to hold a fourth hearing on the case on Tuesday 6 May. It held a hearing every day since. Anar Mammadli is kept on pre-trial detention, following the Court’s explanation that he might try to flee the country, although his passport along with the ones of Bashir Suleymanli and Elnur Mammadov were confiscated. HRHN members have called upon the authorities to immediately and unconditionally drop the charges brought against Anar Mammadli and his colleagues, stating in a joint letter of 12 November 2013 that they “see the investigations against EMDS related to the organisation’s activities and its conclusions in regard to the Presidential elections of 9 October 2013”.

United Nations Special Rapporteurs called upon Azerbaijan to drop the charges against the 3 human rights defenders and relaease Anar Mammadli.

Also on 6 May, the activists of the youth opposition movement NIDA were sentenced to 6 and 8 years emprionment, on charges of organizing mass disorders, and illegal drugs and weapons possession. “The case brought against those activists is an illustration of an orchestrated suppression of a specific movement,” Maria Dahle says. Whilst awaiting this verdict, all eight activists have gone on hunger strike. Following the verdict, an unrest took place in front of the building of the Court of Grave Crimes, which was minor, but some more activists were arrested on the spot. “It looked excessive and frankly police should have prevented this reaction, knowing that the reading of the sentence would create unrest”, says Florian Irminger, HRHF’s Head of Advocacy, present at the court hearings of Anar Mammadli and NIDA in Baku. On 17 March 2014, the decision fell sentencing opposition REAL Movement laeder Ilgar Mammadov and opposition Musavat Party Deputy Chair Tofig Yagublu to lengthy prison terms on charges of inciting the 23-24 January 2013 unrest in Ismayilli.

Leyla Yunus, Institute for Peace and DemocracyOn 28 April 2014, Leyla Yunus and her husband, the historian Arif Yunus, were prevented from leaving the country at Baku’s airport. She then was detained and interrogated by the police regarding the case of the arrested journalist of the leading Russian-language newspaper Zerkalo Rauf Mirkadirov, and questioned about the relation between the journalist and the Institute for Peace and Democracy. Rauf Mirkadirov is now facing charges of treason for his efforts in the peace building process of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He participated in the numerous joint projects between the Institute for Peace and Democracy and Armenian NGOs.

The international community has reacted to this new wave of repression, which came also in parallel to new legislative amendments introducing even more restrictive measures in regard to the right to freedom of association. In his assessment, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights expressed that “the cumbersome requirements for registration inevitably drive a number of NGOs to operate on the fringe of the law.” The European Union noted “that steps [are] taken by the Azerbaijani authorities in recent weeks seem to target civil society activists who are campaigning for greater respect for human rights, rule of law and fundamental freedoms in Azerbaijan as well as for a people-to-people dialogue as an essential component of reconciliation and conflict resolution.”

This situation threw shame on Azerbaijan over the last few weeks and went against expectations that following the presidential election, the authorities would give signs to the international community of their good-will.

The chairmanship of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, to which Azerbaijan is elected at the 112th session of the Committee, was also a hope that the country’s authorities will to engage in a constructive path. “The authorities do not want to open space for more voices in the public debate, although it is one of their core obligations under European law,” says Florian Irminger. Azerbaijan’s authorities are indeed gaining fame from being allowed to assume the presidency of the Committee of Ministers of Europe’s human rights body.

In its latest letter of concern to the Azerbaijani authorities, HRHN members called upon Azerbaijani authorities “to take steps in order to foster a safe environment for human rights defenders”. 

Related articles:

Media contacts:

  • Maria Dahle (Norwegian and English)
    HRHF’s Executive Director 
    Mob: +47 928 61 771
    Email: maria.dahle@humanrightshouse.org 
  • Ane Tusvik Bonde (English, Norwegian and Russian)
    HRHF’s Regional Manager, Caucasus and Eastern Europe
    Mob: +47 99 74 39 07
    Email: ane.bonde@humanrightshouse.org
  • Florian Irminger (English, French and German), in Azerbaijan from 5 to 8 May 2014
    Head of Advocacy and HRHF Geneva Office
    Mob: +41 79 751 80 42 
    Azerbaijani mob: +994 513933266
    Email: florian.irminger@humanrightshouse.org