Ex-oil company chief charged in alleged Azerbaijan coup plot; lawyer cries
foul
The Associated Press

Published: September 29, 2006

BAKU, Azerbaijan A former oil executive has been charged in connection
with an alleged coup plot in Azerbaijan last year, his lawyer said
Friday.

Separately, an American lawyer for Rafiq Aliev said authorities had
violated Azerbaijani law and international human rights norms in the
case.

Aliev was charged Thursday with involvement in what Azerbaijani
officials say was a plot to overthrow President Ilham Aliev, said his
lawyer, Rafiq Quliyev.

Rafiq Aliev is former chief of the private oil company Azpetrol and
brother of former Economic Development Minister Farhad Aliev, one of a
dozen people arrested before parliamentary elections last November in
connection with the alleged plot.

The opposition says the arrests were part of an effort by the
government to manipulate the vote, which Western observers criticized
as flawed.

The Aliev brothers, who are not related to the president, were both
arrested last October, but Rafiq Aliev had not been charged with
participation in the plot. He had previously been charged on three
unrelated counts, including smuggling, Quliyev said.

Meanwhile, Farhad Aliev denounced accusations against him as unfounded
in a statement from prison released by his lawyers Friday, and said
that he had been subjected to blackmail and "psychological pressure"
while in custody.

Authorities accuse an opposition leader living in exile, Rasul
Guliyev, of masterminding the alleged coup plot.

The government of Ilham Aliev – like that of his late father, Geidar
Aliev, before him – has persecuted the opposition, breaking up
demonstrations, jailing its activists and directing state-run
television to smear its leaders.

Charles Both, a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer for Farhad and Rafiq
Aliev, said the authorities have violated both Azerbaijani law and
international human rights norms.

"My clients’ right to have a fair and free and effective remedy
… has been violated. My clients’ right to freedom from
discrimination on political grounds has clearly been violated," Both
told a news conference.

He said authorities had violated the presumption of innocence by
referring to the accused as criminals even though they have not been
tried.

Both said he arrived in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, on Monday and
appealed to the prosecutor general’s office the same day with a
request tomeet with his clients, but received no response.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress