Azerbaijan NGOs struggle for release of people arrested during October 15-16 mass riots in Baku

We call your attention to the appeal made by Azerbaijan NGOs to the Council of Europe in which they urge it to promote the release of all people arrested in connection with the October 15-16 developments in Baku and to take measures in order to make Azerbaijan meet obligations undertaken by the county to the Council of Europe:

To Mr. Walter Schwimmer
Secretary General of the Council of Europe

Mr. Peter Schieder
President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Mr. Andreas Gross and Mr. Guillermo MartМnez CasaЯ
co-reporters of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe on Azerbaijan

Dear Sirs!

Falsifications of the results of all elections held during last ten years and their demonstrative repetition even after Azerbaijan had became a member of the Council of Europe became fair reasons for the dissatisfaction and mass protest actions of the democratic forces. On October 15, 2003, violence was used by police forces in respect of people who gathered in front of the headquarters of the Musavat party. The demonstration on October 16 was a protest reaction to the Central Election Commission's announcement of the preliminary results of the voting. The young people who gathered on Azadlig Square broke the public order and started protesting against impossibility of making changes in their lives in a peaceful political way - by elections.

Illegal actions of the demonstrators were an adequate reaction to the many years of the falsifications of elections and violence constantly used by the police. On October 16, 2003, dogs and fire arms were used against unarmed demonstrators (there was a shooting in the air). As a result of it, one of the demonstrators - 52-year-old engineer Hamidaga Zakhidov - died from the blow he had received by a police baton, and over 300 people got different types of injuries.

We would like to bring to your attention to the fact that none of those who used violence in respect of the people protesting against falsifications of the elections and demonstrators as well as none of the police officers were brought to account. On the contrary, members of the Central Election Commission and police officers were rewarded. In general, even criminal proceedings on the fact of the death of Hamidaga Zakhidov have not been instituted. According to the official information received after the elections from the ruling authorities of Azerbaijan, more than 600 citizens of Azerbaijan have been arrested. Legal proceedings have been instituted against 125 of them under articles 220.1 (participation in mass riots) and 315.2 (resistance to representatives of authorities) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The persons against whom criminal proceedings under the articles mentioned above have been instituted can be sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment. We think there is no legal reasoning for these criminal cases according to the legislation of Azerbaijan concerning mass disorders as fire arms, explosive devices or resistance to representatives of authorities were not used on October 15 and 16, 2003, during the events happened in Baku.

The Public Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan commits serious violations of the law during the investigation of the mentioned events. Petitions by the lawyers (MirIsmail Hadi, lawyer of Arif Hajili; Mazahir Shahmarov, lawyer of Rauf Arifoglu; Osman Kazimov, lawyer of Igbal Agazade, etc) referring to the not guilty evidence of witnesses given during the hearings have remained unanswered by the investigative bodies. Facts have not been submitted by the investigative bodies to courts in respect of imprisoned persons (Sulhadin Akbar, Arif Hajili, Ibragim Ibragimli, Ilgar Ibrahimoglu, Rauf Arifoglu, Zohrab Shamhalov, Sardar Jalaloglu, Panakh Huseyn, etc). The main "guilt" of head of the central election headquarters of the former presidential candidate Isa Gambar Arif Hajili, editor-in-chief of the Yeni Musavat newspaper Rauf Arifoglu, and other political figures is that these persons strictly criticized the acting regime of Azerbaijan during pre-election agitation campaigns and in press. In any case, any facts about their guilt have not been submitted until today.

The majority of the opposition activists arrested after October 16 (Ibragim Ibragimli, Sardar Jalaloglu, Igbal Agazade, Elchin Ziyadov, Maksud Kheyrullayev, and others) were subjected to torture at district police stations and at the Department for Struggle Against Organized Crime of the Azerbaijan Interior Ministry. No responses have been given to the complaints lodged in respect of those facts. At the same time, the torture continues. Ali Aliyev, an investigator of the republican Public Prosecutor's Office, personally beat Beybala Aliyev, a member of the Musavat party from the city of Sumgait, while questioning him at the republican Prosecutor's Office. The investigator demanded from the detainee to give evidence against arrested political leaders. The Prosecutor General sent the complaint Beybala Aliyev had made to him about the mentioned fact of torture for investigation to investigator Ali Aliyev, the one who had made that torture.

After October 16, the authorities of Azerbaijan violating the provisions of the Constitution of Azerbaijan on freedom of assembly unofficially imposed a ban on the holding of mass actions. By instructions of the court made by order, leading newspapers of Azerbaijan are forced to pay huge fines, which bring them to bankruptcy.

We are convinced that the main aim of the overt campaign of repressions is to shift attention of both the international and republican public from the problem of the total falsification of elections to the problem of repressions, freedom of expression and new political prisoners. We hope you will take corresponding measures that will make Azerbaijan meet obligations undertaken by it to the Council of Europe.

We hope you will promote the release of all (today 126) the imprisoned people, which will undoubtedly contribute to the establishment of civil peace and order in the republic.

Eldar Zeynalov, Zaliha Tairova
Human Rights Center of Azerbaijan

Leyla Yunus
Institute of Peace and Democracy

Elmira Alakbarova
Center for Program Development "El"

Mirvari Gahramanly
Committee for the Protection of Oil Workers

Avaz Gasanov
Society for Humanitarian Studies