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Azerbaijan
95. By letter dated 2 September 2004, sent jointly with the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the Special Rapporteur notified the Government that he had received allegations concerning:
96. Nuraddin Mamedli, Namik Axadzade, Jeyhun Ismailov, Hasarat Rustamov, Ramin Ruriyev, Fuad Gasanov, Natig Eynullayev, Vasif Abdullayev, Sardar Mamedov, and Saxavat Hajiyev. On 25 May 2003, these men were among 50 protesters beaten by the police during a protest in Baku by 150 persons, concerning the treatment of opposition members in Parliament. The crowd included human rights defenders, journalists, and members of Parliament. The Minister of the Interior had reportedly stated that the officers who used excessive force were going to be dismissed.
97. Sardar Agaev, the driver of Isa Gambar, leader of the Musavat Party, and Mahir Gambarov, a cousin of Isa Gambar. On the evening of 16 October 2003, they were detained together with four bodyguards outside Isa Gambar’s apartment building by about forty masked men, taken to the Organized Crime Unit (OCU) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at around 7.30 p.m., and forced to sign blank statements, as well as a statement saying they did not need a lawyer. They were taken to the Narimanov District Court, where they were sentenced to 15 days of administrative detention for insulting a police officer, and returned to the OCU to serve their sentences in basement cells. On their arrival they were stripped naked and separated. Sardar Agaev was taken to a cell, where seven people beat him with fists and rubber truncheons, and kicked him. The beatings lasted for about one hour. They threatened him, saying "We have a bottle and we will rape you now." He was beaten again by four men the following morning, after which he lost consciousness, and water was thrown on him. As a result of the beatings to his kidney, he had blood in his urine. The beatings reportedly stopped following a meeting with a delegate from the International Committee of the Red Cross on 20 October. On 23 October, he was transferred to Khataye temporary detention centre and released on 25 October, after being ordered to appeal his sentence to the Court of Appeals. On 16 October, Mahir Gambarov was taken to a room where there were about eight persons waiting, and he was beaten for about one hour. He was held by the men and forced to beg for mercy in front of a portrait of the President. The next day he was hit on the chest, slapped in the face, and beaten with rubber truncheons on the legs. He was handcuffed when he raised his hands to protect his face. His shoes and socks were removed and he was beaten on the soles of his feet, and threatened with rape. Handcuffed, they would pull his fingers apart. The perpetrators used a homemade tool with rubber pincers to pinch his fingers and would then plunge his hands into ice-cold water until he could not feel them. His feet were held under the legs of a chair and one of the perpetrators repeatedly sat down on it. He was reportedly told by the Chief of OCU (whose name is known to the Special Rapporteur) that in the backroom, "We have an electric chair there, and once you go there, you will speak, you won’t be able to stop speaking."
98. Ibrahim Ibrahimli, the deputy chairperson of Musavat. On 16 October 2003, he was arrested by members of OCU and taken to its offices. There, he was beaten while handcuffed to a chair and his right index finger was crushed in a steel door when he refused to denounce Musavat and Isa Gambar, and implicate himself in the events of 16 October. When his lawyer was able to see him on 18 October, Ibrahim Ibrahimli was unable to speak because he had not been allowed to eat or drink since his arrest, his left hand was swollen and he had to hold it up, the index finger on his right hand was black and swollen. He had bruises on his face. He had difficulty walking, and the soles of his feet were completely black.
99. Farhad Adjirgaev, a district election commissioner in Zagatala. On the evening of 16 October 2003, he was arrested by police at his home. When he arrived at the police station, a deputy police chief punched Farhad Adjirgaev in the mouth, and when he fell down a group of policemen began kicking him. He was charged with attacking a police officer and taking his gun, and sentenced to two months investigative detention. He was released on 29 October following an appeal to the Court of Appeals.
100. Akif Bederli, the Musavat chairperson in Jalilabad. On 16 October 2003 at about 5 p.m., he was detained together with a group of other Jalilabad opposition figures in Baku. The men had gone to Baku to report their election observations to the Musavat headquarters. The men were taken to Yasamal Police Station. They were then beaten by about ten police officers in the office of the station chief. Akif Bederli was told to kneel, and one of the policemen kicked him in the face, breaking his nose and making it bleed. Four other men beat him on the back.
101. Vugar Muradli, a journalist for the opposition newspaper Hurriyet and an election observer for the ADP. He went to Baku on 16 October 2003 to report his election observations to the ADP headqua rters. When he returned to Zagatala on 17 October, he went directly to the police station because police officials who were looking for him had harassed his family. As soon as he arrived at the station, he was taken to the office of a top police official and a deputy chief of the traffic department, where he was verbally abused, pushed against a wall, punched in the face and kicked. For 30 minutes he was hit on the back of the head with truncheons, on the arms and legs, and on the kidneys. When he fell to the ground, they spat on him. The next day, Vugar Muradli was taken to court, charged with resisting police, and sentenced to seven days administrative detention. He was released after five days.
102. Abdullah Rafizadeh, the Ali Bairamli chairperson of Musavat. On 17 October 2003, he was seriously assaulted outside a sports centre in town. On his way to the hospital, Abdullah Rafizadeh, his son and three Musavat members were stopped by the police and arrested. The next day, they were brought to court on a charge of insulting the police and sentenced to fifteen days. The police refused to allow Rafizadeh to see a doctor, and the detainees were forced to sweep the road and pick up garbage. He was released after ten days, after the police forced him to pay US$500 or face months of investigative detention.
103. Hassan Hassanov, the Azerbaijan National Independence Party (ANIP) chairman in Guba. On 17 October 2003, he was arrested and taken to Guba Police Station. When he arrived, a deputy police chief slapped him in the face and ordered a group of policemen to beat him, stating that he had warned Hassan Hassanov he would arrest him after the election because he brought ANIP opposition candidate Etibar Mamedov to Guba. At around 2 a.m. on 18 October, he was taken to the office of the police chief, where he was again beaten and threatened with rape, being told "We will rape you, and take photos and distribute them to your family and on the street. We will put the photos up the same way you put up posters of Etibar [Mamedov]". The police insisted that he denounce ANIP.
104. Iqbal Agazadeh, the leader of Umid Party and a member of Parliament, and his brother Ilgar. On 17 October 2003, they were arrested at home by masked OCU members, who started shooting in the air before arresting them. On the way to the OCU premises, one of the OCU members continuously punched Iqbal Agazadeh in the face with a steel reinforced glove. When they arrived at the OCU, they were made to lie down in the courtyard, where they were handcuffed and beaten with rubber truncheons and kicked. One of Iqbal Agazadeh’s legs was hit fifty times without stopping, and he was threatened that his sister would be raped if he did not denounce Musavat. Iqbal Agazadeh was dragged along the ground with his hands handcuffed behind his back to his cell. When his lawyer finally gained access to him on 20 October, Iqbal Agazadeh had just been forced to give an interview to ANS television in which he denounced Musavat and Isa Gambar for their role in the 16 October violence. Nearly one month after the beatings, in mid-November, Iqbal Agazadeh was still barely able to walk because of the injuries caused by the beatings to his leg.
105. Natik Jabiev, the ADP elections-secretary, and the ADP secretary-general Sardar Jalaloglu. At the latter’s house, on the evening of 18 October 2003, masked and armed OCU members broke in through the windows and began beating them before taking them to the OCU office. After being forced to lie on the wet ground of the OCU’s courtyard for half an hour, being kicked and beaten the whole time, Natik Jabiev was taken to the office of the chief of OCU, where he was questioned and beaten for nearly four hours. Before beginning the interrogation, the chief beat the handcuffed Natik Jabiev for about 45 minutes with his fists and kicked him. He was hit several times on the ears, punched in the kidneys, and kicked in the testicles. The Chief broke a chair by hitting Natik Jabiev with it. Two investigators, including a senior official from the investigative division of OCU, joined the chief and the beatings continued for another three hours. After the interrogation, he was taken to the basement cells where a group of masked men dressed in black administered another severe beating. Natik Jabiev was released on 25 October. When Sardar Jalaloglu’s lawyer saw him on 19 October during a court hearing, he noticed only minor injuries on his client. However on 22 October at Bayil prison Sardar Jalaloglu had a large bruise on his right hip, in addition to more injuries all over his body.
106. Ulvi Hakimov, the president of the Azerbaijan National Democracy Foundation. On 18 October 2003, he was detained on suspicion of beating a journalist from Lider TV. At the police station, he was hit on the ear about twenty times by an official who demanded that he confess to his involvement in the beating of the journalist.
107. Etimad Asadov, the chairperson of the Karabagh Invalids’ Association. On 26 October 2003, he was arrested and taken to the OCU. Despite having an artificial leg, he was severely beaten. His lawyer, who visited him at Bayil Prison on 29 October, noticed bruises on his back, arms, and chest.
108. Rovshan Ahmedov, a member of ADP. On 9 November 2003, he was called to Police Station 9 in Baku, and was beaten there by three police officials with rubber truncheons, fists and with a chair. They forced him to denounce ADP secretary-general Sardar Jalaloglu. He was then taken to the prosecutor’s office where he was questioned for two days and pressured to denounce Sardar Jalaloglu.
109. 27 worshippers at the Juma Mosque, Old City, Baku. On 30 June 2004, 27 persons were arrested by the police, who forcibly entered the Juma Mosque to implement a court order to evict the congregation of Muslims who worship there independently of the official Muslim Board, for holding an unsanctioned religious meeting. The worshippers were verbally abused and reportedly fined 50,000 manats if they did not sign statements that they would no longer attend the mosque. Four worshippers were beaten in detention.
Urgent appeals
110. On 17 June 2004, the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal concerning Hakan Aydémir, a 22 year-old Turkish national of Kurdish origin. According to the allegations received, Mr. Aydémir, who is completing a four-year prison sentence in Baku for illegal entry into the country, is at risk of imminent forcible return to Turkey. His extradition is sought in connection with charges against him of membership in a terrorist organization and for terrorist-related activities in the Syrian Arab Republic and Iraq between 1995 and 1999, i.e. from when he was 14 years old. His family has been involved in Kurdish causes in Turkey, for which his father was imprisoned for 11 years, his mother was forced into exile, and his grandfather was assassinated.
111. By letter dated 13 August 2004, the Government informed that having served his
sentence, Mr. Aydémir was released on 18 June 2004. The issue of his extradition has not
been considered and he has not been extradited.
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This report has been published by Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights on July 12, 2005.