Explanatory comments
by Mr. Elkhan Suleymanov, member of Azerbaijani delegation,
regarding the Information Note on
“Azerbaijan’s Chairmanship of the Council of Europe: What follow-up on respect for human rights?” (October 21, 2014) by Mr. Pedro Agramunt,Rapporteur on Azerbaijan in the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The Information Note by the Rapporteur submitted both the positions of local NGOs and authorities on the information provided about the situation of human rights, as well as the considerations of international NGOs.
We kindly present to you the following explanatory comments to the provisions of Information Note:
I
Section on Recent arrests of human rights defenders and other civil society activists
1. Paragraph 14 of Information Note states: “According to the representatives of the few opposition parties I met, there are currently 140 “political prisoners”, according to Leyla Yunus’ list there are 198, according to 4 other NGOs, there are 28. We have also heard that some other NGOs are currently compiling lists of 81 “political prisoners”. All this is confusing, especially since these lists evolve constantly, with people being released thanks, inter alia, to presidential pardons, and new people being arrested and charged.”
Explanation: The difference in lists and number of alleged political prisoners in the lists of different NGOs demonstrate that these NGOs have different interests. The statements and reports by international organizations based on biased information create conditions for some NGO representatives in our country to turn the issue of so-called “political prisoner” into an illegal business.
At the same time, this point shouldn’t establish a negative opinion about all Azerbaijani NGOs. Over 3500 NGOs were registered in Azerbaijan, 90% of which is engaged in sound activity and contributes to the development of civil society.
2. Paragraph 16 of Information Note notes: “On 16 December 2013, Anar Mammadli, the Chair of the Election Monitoring Centre (EMDS), an organisation which was critical about the conduct of the presidential elections in October 2013, was arrested and placed in detention on various charges, in particular “tax evasion”, “abuse of official authority” and “illegal business activity”. On 26 May 2014, he was sentenced to 5 and a half year imprisonment by the Baku Court of Grave Crimes in first instance. His colleague, Bashir Suleymanli, executive director of EMDS, was sentenced to three and half year imprisonment. Annar Mammadli was recently awarded with the Parliamentary Assembly’s Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize 2014.”
Explanation: Anar Mammadli, Chairman of Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center, used the name and bank accounts of Public Union “International Cooperation of Volunteers” chaired by Elnur Mammadov, in order to avoid taxes. Anar Mammadli received large amount of money and unregistered grant (USD 163.250) without paying taxes through that NGO.
As the result of investigation, Anar Mammadli and his deputy Bashir Suleymanli, as well as Elnur Mammadov were accused of misappropriation, illegal entrepreneurship, tax evasion, abuse of power and forgery in office.
By the judgement of the Baku Court on Grave Crimes (delivered on 26 May 2014) Anar Mammadli was sentenced to 5.5 years, Bashir Suleymanli to 3.2 years of imprisonment and Elnur Mammadov was sentenced to 2 years of imprisonment conditionally.
On November 11th of this year, the cassation appeal of Anar Mammadli and Bashir Suleymanli, who are being detained in the Supreme Court of the Republic of Azerbaijan, was considered and overruled.
3. Paragraph 17 of Information Note reads: “On 14 July 2014, Hasan Huseynli, leader of “Intelligent Citizen”, a respected NGO based in Ganja, was sentenced to six years of imprisonment on charges of “hooliganism” and “stabbing”. He led educational projects involving young people in his region.”
Explanation: Hasan Huseynli was sentenced for the incident on March 31, 2014. He quarreled with Gahramanov Arzu Eldar in the street in Ganja and attacked him with knife. Then the witnesses of the incident gave evidences.
Hasan Huseynli was released under the Pardon Decree by President of the Republic of Azerbaijan on October 17, 2014. He continues his activity at the moment. In November of this year, Hasan Huseynli attended Civil Society Forum of EU’s Eastern Partnership program held in Batumi, Georgian Republic.
4. Paragraph 18 of Information Note states: “Leyla Yunus, Director of Institute for Peace and Democracy, and her husband Arif Yunus were charged with treason, tax evasion, and illegal entrepreneurship.”
Explanation: Taking into account an exaggerated and biased campaign on Leyla Yunus in European institutions, we consider it necessary to add the following information to Paragraph 18 of Information Note:
Besides chairing an unregistered Institute for Peace and Democracy, Ms. Yunus acted as the alleged director of the Society of Women of Azerbaijan for Peace and Democracy, registered on the 27thof March, 1996. There are a series of illegalities that came todaylight after a long investigation and they are basis for their arrests.
The most important accusation is the one of treason. Ms. Yunus together with her husband stand accused of having managed contacts with Armenian interests, Azerbaijan having a fifth of its territory under occupation by Armenia. They arranged the transfer via Georgian territories of individuals to be recruited by Armenian intelligence services for the purpose of data gathering and information collection on the security situation of Azeri troops near the contact line with Armenia. They allegedly intermediated payments and other material gains for such people andthe prosecution has also found evidence that Ms. Yunus herself was involved in such data gathering on the security, economic and technical supply of Azerbaijan.
She was also allegedly involved in a series of negotiations with Armenian contacts on the recognition of sovereignty of the illegal regime in Nagorno-Karabakh in exchange for the return of other occupied provinces of Azerbaijan. Such negotiations were neither sanctioned nor improved.
On a financial level, Ms. Yunus managed the accounts of the Society of Women of Azerbaijan, registered in Unibank OJSC on the 21st of November 2002. This organization received a number of international grants for various projects, including from the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the German Marshall Fund, OSI Assistance Foundation and others, between 2006 and 2014. It was discovered that Ms. Yunus authorized three transfers of AZN 167.199, USD 620.878 and USD 263.745 from the accounts of the NGO to other, personal accounts,afterwards cashing the sums personally. She cashed USD 88.468 and covered the transaction with falsified documents, depositing USD 71.000 to her personal accounts. Later on, she withdrew USD 78.130, on April 24th 2012, including the interest of the initial deposited and transferred it to the accounts of her husband, Mr. Arif Yunus at Unibank, who afterwards immediately moved the sums to his other accounts in the Czech Republic, at Sberbank CZ.
This was an act in breach of several fiscal and accounting laws of Azerbaijan, as well as the legislation concerning the functioning of non-governmental organizations.
Lastly, Ms. Yunus also conducted private and unregistered business activities, acquiring AZN526.943 from unregistered grants. Furthermore, this all added up to AZN 369.378 in tax revenues evaded by her over the indicated time period.
All the information the above are the facts surrounding the highly mediatized case of Ms. Leyla Yunus. Ultimately, it will be for the court to decide on the validity of the accusations, and only for the courts. At the same time, we believe that the final decision on the cases of Leyla Yunus and Arif Yunus should be taken by the court. This is inadmissible to make political speculations without any judicial decision.
5. Paragraph 19 of Information Note claims: “Leyla Yunus’ health has deteriorated since her arrest and the prison authorities refuse to provide her with appropriate treatment, despite her diabetes and problems with her kidneys. At the beginning of September 2014, she was attacked by her cellmate and the prison authorities allegedly failed to protect her.”
Explanation: According to the information of Main Medical Department of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the situation of Leyla Yunus detained in Baku Penitentiary Facility is stable. She has no any health problems.
Leyla Yunus is regularly analyzed in laboratory, besides, an endocrinologist regularly examines the level of her diabetes. She has no any problem with liver and relevant examination had no negative results. She was even offered to pass USM for several times, but Leyla Yunus refused saying that she had no need.
It is noted that Leyla Yunus has diabetes, and she receives adequate medicines. The level of her diabetes is under control. Both the penitentiary facility and she herself has a device to measure the level of diabetes.
On December 29, 2014, the Azerbaijani Government organized accused Leyla Yunus’s full examination, namely blood analysis, examination of abdominal cavity, pelvic organs and thyroid gland, Doppler USM of carotid arteries, vertebral arteries, and lower extremity arteries, magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) of thoracic organs, cerebrum, and full abdominal cavity, ECG, Echocardiogram, and heart echography, as well as consultations of ophthalmologist, neurologist, and oncologist with the participation of Professor Dr. Christian Vitt, Head of Department of well-known German hospital “Charite”, and highly specialized doctors of Azerbaijan on different spheres, namely professor Murad Muradov, professor Garay Garaybayli, professor Rauf Aghayev, and PhD Rovshan Hasanov at Republican Diagnostic Center, basing on principles of humanity and for ending rumors on accused Leyla Yunus’s health. Consequently, minutes were compiled by group of international physicians, the results were documented, and the video of process of examination was taken. Dr. Christian Vitt signed the minutes, conforming his attendance in all medical examinations with the application of new diagnostic methods and in accordance with internationally recognized diagnostic and ethic standards.
6. Paragraph 20 of Information Note states: “On August 2, human rights activist Rasul Jafarov, founder of the NGO “Human Rights Club”, was placed in pre-trial detention on charges of tax evasion, illegal entrepreneurship, and abuse of power.”
Explanation: According to the Article 25 of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, citizens are equal before law and court. 1165 persons (389 in 2011, 373 in 2012, and 403 in 2013) were brought to criminal responsibility for tax evasion in Azerbaijan for the last three years. Rasul Jafarov is also an Azerbaijani citizen, who was brought to criminal responsibility for tax evasion, and he is also equal before the court.
Rasul Jafarov was found to have pursued economic activities with grant agreements not duly registered under the legislation, and was suspected to have obtained an income on the amount of AZN147.900 (over EURO 140.000) and evading from state tax on the amount of AZN 6.162 through oficially unregistered NGO.
The conviction act on Rasul Jafarov’s case was submitted to Baku City Court of Grave Crimes on January 5, 2015. During the investigative period, additional charges were raised against R.Jafarov under Articles 179 (assignment) and 313 (document forgery).
7. Paragraph 21 of Information Note states: “On 8 August 2014, Intigam Aliyev, lawyer and the Chairman of the Legal Education Society, was placed in pre-trial detention on charges of tax evasion, abuse of power and illegal entrepreneurship. His office and home were searched and his computer and files confiscated. As Rasul Jafarov, he is also suspected of tax evasion on an income of some 60.000 Euro.”
Explanation: The detention of Intigam Aliyev has nothing to do with his activity, the lists, he jointly prepared with others, etc. Intigam Aliyev is the Chairman of the Legal Education Society. According to the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on “Non-governmental organizations”, Public union, as it is settled as aims of founding documents, is a voluntary, self-controlled, non-governmental organization established under the initiative of several physical and (or) legal entities with common interests, whose main purpose is not to gain profit as a result of the activity and share it between the members of the organization. Intigam Aliyev was detained for violations in the activity of the Public Union. He was elected the Chairman during general meeting of founders and members. He is suspected to have carried out an illegal entrepreneurship with grant agreements not duly registered under the legislation, and was suspected in obtaining an income on the amount of AZN 66.204, amounting to a tax evasion of AZN 8.706. The materials confiscated from Intigam Aliyev, as well as case materials regarding the procedures considered by ECtHR.
The investigation on Intigam Aliyev’s case was completed, and the conviction act was forwarded to Baku City Court of Grave Crimes.
8. Paragraph 23 of Information Note reads: “?mar Mammadov, a popular blogger and founder of a pro-opposition youth movement, was sentenced to 5 years for allegedly intending to sell drugs and, in May 2014, 8 activists from the NIDA civic movement were sentenced to imprisonment of between 6 and 8 years, for hooliganism, illegal possession of drugs and organising or participating in mass disorder.”
Explanation: In March 2013, eight members of the NIDA Civic Movement were arrested while preparing a mass protest without authorization, and were found in possession of explosives (Molotov cocktails). A search ofthe premises also uncovered narcotics and large amounts of undeclared foreign currency (up to EURO 100.000). Several judicial investigations were opened, concerning these finds.
Mr. O. Mammadov was found guilty by the Baku Court of Grave Crimes on the 4 th of July 2014 and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for illegal possession of narcotics (6.134 grams of heroin). His lawyer submitted an appeal and the case is currently on-going.
Detained NIDA activists Bakhtiyar Guliyev and Shahin Novruzlu applied to President of the Republic of Azerbaijan for pardon and expressed their repentance. The fact that thse activists and the others, allegedly detained for their political views, are deliberately called “prisoners of conscience” proves that these allegations are unfounded.
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan signed a pardon decree on October 17, 2014, and the decree was also applied to 84 prisoners. Here inclued 2 NIDA activists, namely Bakhtiyar Guliyev and Shahin Novruzlu.
Other members of NIDA Civic Movement, who were detained in Baku Penitentiary Facility, namely Rashadat Akhundov, Rashad Hasanov, Uzeyir Mammadli, Zaur Gurbanly, Mammad Azizov, and Ilkin Rustamzade, also applied to President Ilham Aliyev on September 28, 2014.
President of the Azerbaijan Republic Ilham Aliyev signed a pardon decree on December 29, 2014. The decree is applied to 86 Azerbaijani citizens and 1 (one) Turkish citizen. The prisoners pardoned include two members of NIDA Movement, namely Uzeyir Mammadli and Zaur Gurbanly.
9. Paragraph 23 of Information Note claims: “Faraj Karimov, his brother Siraj Karimov, and Murad Adilov, who were detained on drug charges are political activists.”
Explanation: Faraj Karimov, his brother Siraj Karimov, and Murad Adilov are not known to Azerbaijani society and are not distinguished with political activity at all.
The legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan provides for criminal and administrative responsibility for purchase, storage, transportation, and sale of drugs. The people commiting such actions are brought to responsibility.
10. Paragraph 25 of Information Note claims: “On 8 August, Emin Huseynov, the Chair of the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom (IFRS) was allegedly prevented, by the police, from traveling to Turkey for medical treatment. On 8 August, the offices of the IFRS and Mr Huseynov’s mother home were searched. Mr Huseynov was issued a travel ban and a criminal case is now pending against him. Emin Huseynov is suspected to have evaded tax payment on an income of 560.000 Euro from foreign grants, and he is currently reported to hide in a foreign embassy in Baku. As he is evading investigation, he is now searched by the police and is risking inprisonment.”
Explanation: The Azerbaijani authorities addressed the Swiss Embassy on the speculation that Emin Huseynov hides in a foreign embassy in the country. The authorities ensured that Mr. Huseynov won’t be detained if he gives evidence to the investigation. Nevertheless, he still hides from investigation.
11. Paragraph 26 of Information Note comments: “On 21 August 2014, Ilgar Nasibov, a journalist and human rights activist from Nakhichevan – the Azerbaijani exclave – was severely beaten by unidentified people. He was found unconscious in his office with severe head trauma and broken face bones. Mr Nasibov and his wife Malahat Nasibova, also a journalist, have been supporting the victims of human rights violations in their region through the Development Resource Centre. Following the incident, NGO sources specify that no criminal investigation has been opened and beforehand, the couple reported that they had received numerous threats. These NGO sources however are contradicted by a publication by U.S. State Department, who are stating that the police responded immediately, and the prosecutor’s office initiated an investigation.”
Explanation: A criminal case was launched under the Article 127.1 (deliberate causing of less serious harm to the health) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan, a few days following the fact that Ilgar Nasibov was severely beaten by unidentified people. The hearing was held at Nakhchevan Court on November of this year. Taking into consideration Nasibov’s refusal of his complaint, the court decided to terminate the case.
There are several control mechanisms, alongside with administrative control for detention facilities in Azerbaijan, which include Ombudsman, National Preventive Mechanism Group, and Public Committee for Penitentiary Service. Moreover, Azerbaijan is open to any cooperation in this regard. The Joint Working Group on Human Rights was restored during the meeting (meeting on restoration) on October 22, 2014. This Working Group previously functioned between 2005 and 2008 at the initiative of Mr. Thorbjorn Jagland, CoE Secretary General and Mr. Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and closed down due to the violation of agreement provisions by PACE (as the issue of prisoners was discussed and resolved on national framework, the PACE agreed not to appoint a rapporteur). The Working Group includes representatives of the government and national human rights defenders, as well as Mr. Alexander Gessel, representative of Secretary General. The main goal of the Working Group is to monitor and prepare appropriate recommendations on the prisoners, who are under criminal investigation and are declared as convicted (accused), and the court decision about whom entered into force.
II
Paragraphs 28 – 31 of Information Note deal with freedom of information in Azerbaijan. Therefore, we consider it necessary to overview the actual situation in the sphere of freedom of information in the country:
Freedom of expression
According to the Article 50 of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, everyone is free to look for, acquire, transfer, prepare and distribute information through lawful means; freedom of mass media is guaranteed; state censorship in mass media, including press is prohibited.
According to the Article 14 of the Law “On Mass Media”, “For the the establishing of print publications there is no need to get agreement from the authorities.”
There are currently 4957 newspapers (print and online) and information agencies in Azerbaijan. Moreover, 8 republic-wide, 14 regional and 12 cable televisions, as well as 11 radio-channels, and multiple online television channels.
There is no any public authority regulating the activity of press. The Press Council was established in 2003 as a mechanism to publicly regulate the relations between the society, public authorities, and mass media outlets. This Council is a self-controlled non-governmental institution.
“The Concept on Sate Support for Mass Media Development in the Republic of Azerbaijan” was adopted under Presidential Decree in 2008. The Concept provided for the establishment of special fund for state support for mass media development. Following the adoption of the concept, State Fund for the Support of Mass Media Development under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
The Fund supports media in different spheres, where include development of freedom of thought, speech, and information, as well as pluralism, strengthening of material and technical base of mass media, improvement of financial and social state of journalists.
Over 80% of annual budgets of many opposition newspapers functioning in the country is financed by this fund. The practice of European forms of support for mass media development was studied before the establishment of the fund.
State Fund for the Support of Mass Media Development under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan has provided regular financial assistance to more than 30 media outlets and different basic newspapers, including mainly “Azadlig” and “Yeni Musavat” since 2011.[1]
Most of media outlets, as well as “Azadlig” paper were provided with office belonging to Service of Head of Administrative Department of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and located in the center of capital Baku for symbolic price (10 times less than an actual price).
Residential complex with total price of 22 mln. AZN was built and gratuitously distributed among journalists by the Fund at the expense of state budget. During the process, journalists critical of government and journalists close to government were not discriminated, and the partition was conducted according to number of family members.
This assistance by the state didn’t aim to “deprive journalists of loyalty”. According to independent experts, as state support increased, the number and severity of critical articles increased as well, on the contrary, such newspapers gained additional means to deeply analyze the governmental activity.
The Internet is not limited in Azerbaijan. The VII Internet Governance Forum jointly organized by UN and Azerbaijani Government in Baku in November of 2012 noted that freedom of Internet is fully ensured in Azerbaijan. The prohibition of any resources of Internet in the country was not reported. The social media is widely used.
Nevertheless, some reports were distinguished with biased approaches in their indexes of freedom of Internet in Azerbaijan. The indicators regarding “Freedom of Internet” contained in the report by Freedom
