Human Rights House Foundation protested against the court decisions.

The Human Rights House Foundation (HRH) and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC) sent a letter to the president expressed serious concern about the Court of Grave Crime´s decisions on October 22 where seven prominent leaders from the opposition were sentenced to long prison terms.

The opposition leaders were found guilty in organizing the riots after the election October 15 and 16, 2003.  The decisions contribute to the Council of Europe´s (CoE) most recent resolution (1358) that stipulated that the seven opposition leaders should be released.

We still find it significant that not a single official of the police or other security force has been persecuted despite countless witnesses reporting their use of force and intimidation during the same October 15-16 events. According to the statement of the 16 national non-governmental organisations, the opposition leaders were against violence and tried to stop people using violence after the election October 15, 2003.

In June 2004 HRH feared that the defendants’ principal human rights were violated.  In a letter to the president June 20, 2004 we addressed our concerns regarded the political motivation of the court-trials. In meeting with the Monitoring Committee of Council of Europe the opposition leaders have claimed that the procedure has been artificial and has failed to meet international standards of the rule of law.

A statement signed by 16 national human rights organizations stated that none of the accusations made against the opposition leaders was proved in court. Several prosecution witnesses in this case also told the court that police and prosecutors had coerced and tortured them to make statements incriminating the opposition leaders. However the officials denied the torture claims and the judge accepted their version over the defendants’ with no further investigation. Human Rights Watch has also documented torture in pre-trial detention of four of the seven defendants. The Convention against Torture, to which Azerbaijan is a party, explicitly prohibits the use of evidence coerced under torture.

We remind the Azerbaijani authorities of their obligations under international fair trial standards and the European Convention of Human Rights. HRH and NHC would like to draw your particular attention to the wording of Article 6.1:  “In the determination of his civil rights and obligations or of any criminal charge against him, everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law.” The principle of fair trial is also guaranteed in the 1995 Constitution of Azerbaijan. We ask the authorities to investigate allegations of torture and abuse against the detainees.

HRH and NHC call for the Azerbaijani Government to obey the CoE resolution and to release the arrested opposition leaders; Arif Hajili and Ibrahim Ibrahimli, Deputy Chairmen of Musavat, Panah Huseinov, Chairman of the Popular Party, Igbal Agazade, Chairman of the Hope Party, Rauf Arifoglu, Editor-in-Chief of the Yeni Musavat newspaper, Sardar Jalaloglu, Secretary General of the Democratic Party and Etimad Asadov, Chairman of Union of Invalides of Garabagh War. We ask the authorities to immediately review the cases of all remaining detainees arrested on suspicion of involvement in the October 15 and 16 violence whom no specific evidence of illegal activities exists. 

Copies of the letter were sent to the Norwegian Foreign Minister and Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Jan Petersen, The Norwegian Prime Minister, Kjell Magne Bondevik,The Norwegian Parliament, Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs.