Georgia and world in support of Khadija

“I would like to single out Khadija Ismayil among recently released political prisoners, not because she was a special person but because she was a journalist, who tried to expose the Azerbaijani government in corruption,” Georgian journalist Nino Danelia reacted on the release of Khadija Ismayil.

Nino Danelia believes Khadija was released as a result of international reactions and oppression from democratic states on the authority of Azerbaijan. She said the entire world strives to increase the number of democratic states and keep people like Khadija out of prisons.

Nino Danelia personally knows Ms. Ismayil and said that she is not only a professional journalist but also a very strong lady. Thus, she assumes if Khadija does not get back to her professional activities soon, it will be caused only by her probation term and ban on professional activities. However, she could not be scared by imprisonment. Danelia said if the Azerbaijani authority could defeat her, they would not have placed the journalist in prison; she knew about the order on her arrest but went to Azerbaijan from Tbilisi – in fact she surrendered.”

“When arrested, she asked supporters – if you want to support me, do not post on facebook and do not organize demonstrations, continue my work and expose the government in corruption. It is impossible to scare a person, who makes similar statement; she deserves huge respect.”

Nino Danelia added that on Saturday, Georgian journalists are going to celebrate Khadija Ismayil’s birthday in Tbilisi; they will congratulate her with the release and will demonstrate their support to the Azerbaijani colleague again.

People across the world also show their support to the journalist in the frame of the campaign Sport of Human Rights and try to celebrate her release with different activities.

Tbilisi, Brussels, Copenhagen, London, New-York, Oslo, Sofia, Stockholm, Toronto, Warsaw, Washington, Berlin, Moscow, Kiev, Minsk, Strasburg, Paris, Vilnius – it is incomplete list of the cities, where people will join the events of the Sport for Rights to celebrate Khadija’s birthday and freedom. The participants of the campaign will take photos and upload them on Facebook to demonstrate their support to the journalist.

In the frame of the same campaign, today, Human Rights House Tbilisi will hold a discussion about Khadija Ismayil in the Frontline Club. Helsinki Human Rights Foundation also expressed solidarity with the journalist and their representatives in Warsaw painted the Azerbaijani flag and Khadija’s photo on a wall.

Sport for Rights is a coalition of international human rights organizations and groups, including Human Rights Watch. Their campaigns aim at the defense of human rights.

According to the information published on the website of Human Rights Watch, Azerbaijan will host its first Formula One opean Grand Prix race on June 17-19, 2016 in the capital, Baku. The Azerbaijani government has sought to host a number of high-profile sports and other events in recent years. The President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev tries to divert the attention of the international community from the problems to those events.

Organizers of the Campaign Sport for Rights believe similar events are good chance to attract international community’s attention to the problems and to influence the government. Consequently, the coalition members address the team of the Formula One.

As reported by Human Rights Watch, the coordinator of the Campaign Sport for Rights Rebecca Vincent sent a letter to the executive director of the Formula One and urged him to call on the Government of Azerbaijan to take some concrete steps. Among her requests was unconditional release of the arrested journalists and civil activists and ensure inviolability of the work of independent organizations.

Legal aspects of Khadija Ismayil’s case

The criminal case on the investigative journalist and contributor to the Radio Liberty Khadija Ismayil is made up of 15 volumes and includes several accusations. She was arrested on December 5, 2014 under the charge of bringing a person to the point of suicide; afterwards she was charged for the waste of funds, illegal business, tax invasion and abuse of power. On September 1, 2015 the Baku Court on Grave Crimes sentenced the journalist to 7, 5 years imprisonment for the last four charges.

The lawyers appealed the court decision at the Appeal Court and then at the Supreme Court. The defense lawyers requested to annul the imprisonment sentence because they claimed there was no evidence to prove guiltiness of the journalist. Khadija did not have any access to financial operations due to her professional activities and consequently she could not commit the crime she was convicted for. After several human rights defenders were released in Azerbaijan, the journalist’s lawyers also hoped for her release but her relatives were afraid Khadija was still dangerous for the government of Azerbaijan for what she would not be released. However, to their surprise, the Baku Supreme Court decided to free Khadija Ismayil.

On November 11, 2015 the international organization Human Rights Watch honored Khadija Ismayil for extraordinary bravery in journalism. The organization honors those people with the award, who dedicates his/her life to the defense of human rights and personal dignity.

State of human rights in Azerbaijan

Eurasia region coordinator for the Amnesty International Levan Asatiani evaluated the state of human rights in Azerbaijan and noted that the country always had problems in this field, particularly in terms of freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and manifestation. The situation became particularly grave since 2013, when, as Asatiani said, the government of Azerbaijan started to clean the society from the people with different opinion. Meanwhile, the Amnesty International declared at least 22 persons in Azerbaijan to be prisoners of conscience.

At the same period, the Government of Azerbaijan introduced amendments to the national legislation, which aimed to significantly restrict the activities of human rights organizations and also became basis for the arrest of the leaders of those organizations. Namely, based on the government’s order, organizations could not use the grants of international donors without registration. Only the Ministry of Justice was authorized to register the grants which either refused to register them or did not answer the applications of NGOs at all.

Recently the situation slightly improved in Azerbaijan and dozens of political prisoners were freed from prison. Levan Asatiani explains this tendency with two reasons – the Government of Azerbaijan became more sensitive about the country’s international reputation and also they got concerned with the fall of oil prices for what the Azerbaijani authority strives to come closer to the Western financial institutions and governments.

“Release of the political prisoners coincided with the visit of Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, in Baku and visit of the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Washington,” Levan Asatiani said.

Nevertheless, he added that people, opposing the government, are still persecuted and release of only one part of political prisoners is just a cosmetic maneuver that does not change anything in terms of human rights in Azerbaijan. It can be proved by the arrest of two 22-years-old activists in Baku Bayram Mamedov and Giaz Ibrahimov on May 10. They are accused of the possession of narcotic substances and if the charge is proved, they may be imprisoned for 12 years. Levan Asatiani believes it is fabricated accusation because the young men were arrested after they wrote political slogans on the statue of the late president of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev.

Ketevan Ghvedashvili