Download the letter of concern on the right.

Members and partners of the Human Rights House Network (HRHN) are deeply concerned about the recent detentions of participants, including prominent human rights defenders, journalists and activists, in the peaceful protest in Baku, Azerbaijan. We call upon the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately and unconditionally release those still detained, cancel the fines of those fined, and take effective measures to stop punishing critical voices.

HRHN members and partners call upon the Azerbaijani authorities to fully implement your international obligations and commitments to promote and protect the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, in line with the newly adopted resolution on human rights in Azerbaijan by the PACE, and urge you:  

  • To immediately and unconditionally release all persons, including human rights defenders, activists and journalists, detained in relation to the demonstration on Saturday 26 January 2013 in Baku, cancel all charges held against them and drop all fines;
  • To stop the practice of punishing independent and critical voices, including attacks and harassment of human rights defenders;
  • To take effective measures to protect human rights defenders and allow them to conduct their human rights work without hindrance, as provided by Article 12 of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders of 9 December 1998.


On Saturday 26 January 2013 hundreds of people peacefully demonstrated in Baku, Azerbaijan, to express solidarity with recent protesters across the country, including the 23 January 2013 protests in Ismayilli. The social unrest in Ismayilli was triggered by widespread corruption in the region.

The police and plain clothed agents dispersed the Baku peaceful protest on 26 January and to our knowledge 47 demonstrators were detained. Among them were the prominent human rights blogger Emin Milli, the human rights defender and Rafto Award laureate Malahat Nasibova, the human rights lawyer Intigam Aliyev, as well as the investigative journalist and Fritt Ord Foundation and ZEIT Foundation Award laureate Khadija Ismayilova. All of them are close partners of the Human Rights House Network.

After a couple of hours 10 detainees were released without fines and several of them placed in remote areas around Baku city, among them Intigam Aliyev and Malahat Nasibova.  Other detainees were fined for taking part in a so-called “illegal demonstration”, among them journalist Khadija Ismayilova who received a fine of 400 manats (approx. 400 EUR). The United Nations Human Rights Council in its resolution 21/21 on safety of journalists adopted on 27 September 2012 condemned in the strongest terms all attacks and violence against journalists, including intimidation and harassment. We see this fine as one more attempt to intimidate Khadija Ismayilova, following the smear campaigns against her and verbal attacks she regularly receives in Azerbaijan.

Fines were also imposed upon the detained opposition leaders: Gozal Bayramova from the Popular Front Party was fined with 2000 manats (approx. 2000 EUR), Elshan Hasanov from the Musavat Party was fined with 600 manats (approx. 600 EUR) and Turqut Gambar from NIDA Movement was fined with 2500 manats (appr 2500 EUR) and Zaur Gurbanliand and Aygul Panjaliyeva also from the NIDA Movement were fined with respectively 550 manats (approx. 550 EUR) and 400 manats (approx. 400 EUR).  To our knowledge a total of 21 detainees were fined.

The highest penalty was imposed on Emin Milli who was sentenced to administrative detention for 15 days. Emin Milli has already suffered arbitrary detention in the prisons of Azerbaijan: he was imprisoned in 2009 for two and a half years for his critical views about the government. He was conditionally released in November 2010, after serving 16 months of his sentence.

In addition to Emin Milli, Abulfaz Gurbanli, Chairman of Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (APFP) Youth Committee, Turkel Azerturk and Tunjay Guliyev, members of the same Committee, and Rufat Abdullayev, NIDA Movement member, were sentenced with 13 days administrative detention.

By selectively arresting within a big crowd of protesters these prominent human rights defenders, journalists and activists, Azerbaijani authorities show that they use detention as a tool to punish critical voices and target some of those who are known for their independence towards authorities and for their excellence in their human rights work and reporting, such as Emin Milli, Malahat Nasibova, Intigam Aliyev and Khadija Ismayilova.

This wave of repression happened few days after the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution on the human rights situation in Azerbaijan and called upon the Azerbaijani authorities to stop attacks and harassment against human rights defenders, journalists and activists. Several of the Azerbaijani human rights defenders who were detained or fined on Saturday were present at the Assembly in Strasbourg or commented on it on blogs and newspapers, including Emin Milli, Malahat Nasibova, Intigam Aliyev and Khadija Ismayilova.

The Azerbaijani delegation at PACE expressed in the plenary debate on Azerbaijan that “in Azerbaijan, it is not a crime to express one’s opinion” (MP Rovshan Rzayev) and that “the political will for full implementation of [Azerbaijan’s] obligations and commitments has always prevailed. We should all realize that the development of democracy, the rule of law and human rights is a continuous process” (MP Ali Huseynli). However, in the run of a presidential election in Azerbaijan, in our view, the latest wave of repression is rather a statement of Azerbaijan’s ongoing trend away from the fundamental human rights and rule of law Azerbaijan has committed itself to as a member state of Council of Europe.

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