AZERBAIJANI HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER HIDES IN SWISS EMBASSY TO BAKU SAVING HIMSELF FROM AUTHORITY CRACKDOWNS
19:19 12/02/2015 >> SOCIETY
Azerbaijani human rights defender Emin Huseynov is forced to hide in
Swiss embassy to Baku since 18 August, 2014 to escape the crackdowns
of the authorities of the country, “Caucasian Knot” reports referring
to the Norway fund “Human Rights House.”
As the article has it, he hid after the Azerbaijani authorities
searched the office of the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety
(IRFS) that was under his charge, and confiscated the equipment and
documents. The office of the organisation remains sealed since 11
August, 2014, and the employees are called to interrogation.
According to the article, Florian Irminger, the head of the Geneva
office of the organisation considers that Switzerland should go on
supporting the Azerbaijani human rights defender on humanitarian
grounds.
“His stay at the Embassy is justified with the crackdowns level in the
country, false charges against human rights defenders in Azerbaijan,
and the impossibility to defend oneself in the court because of the
lack of judicial system independence in the country and pressure on
their lawyers,” he claimed.
The Azerbaijani human right defender’s health problems are also pointed
out in the statement. Many of the problems are the consequences by
the Azerbaijani police beatings in 2003 and in 2008.
“Imprisonment in Azerbaijani prisons, well-known for their poor state,
would present a major risk to Emin Huseynov’s health. The lack of
access to the needed medical relief for Leyla Yunus and Intigam
Aliyev in pre-trial detention further underlines that Azerbaijani
authorities do not take all necessary measures to ensure that the
health of inmates does not suffer any harm,” Irminger stressed.
As the statement has it, Huseynov is facing various criminal charges,
similar to the ones held against human rights defender Rasul Jafarov
and human rights lawyer Intigam Aliyev, accused of tax evasion,
illegal business and abuse of authority. Leyla Yunus and her
husband Arif Yunus were charged on similar charges. On 26 May 2014,
Anar Mammadli and Bashir Suleymanli of the Election Monitoring and
Democracy Studies Centre were sentenced to respectively 5 years and
6 months imprisonment and 3 years and 6 months on same charges.
Huseynov’s family is facing various kinds of pressure from the
Azerbaijani authorities, the statement reads. “On 10 November 2014, the
blogger Mehman Huseynov, brother of Emin and also an IRFS employee,
was stopped and interrogated at the Baku Airport. He was issued a
travel ban. On 1 December 2014, the identity cards of Mehman Huseynov
were confiscated based on unclear grounds. The authorities have
also interrogated the mother of Huseynov. Employees of IRFS are also
questioned and put under pressure by the authorities. On 26 January
lawyer Gunay Ismayilov of IRFS was attacked outside her apartment in
the evening,” the statement notes.
On 11 February 2015 by the television show “Rundschau” of the Swiss
Radio Television, he has, since August 2014, been living at the Swiss
Embassy in Azerbaijan.
As “Radio Liberty” referring to SRF TV-channel reported, Emin Huseynov
could save himself from the prosecutions of the Azerbaijani police
“pretending himself a Swiss citizen”, “Caucasian Knot” writes.
According to the article, Swiss Foreign Ministry confirmed in the
programme “Rundschau” that they had provided the Azerbaijani human
rights defender with shelter on humanitarian grounds.
“Since then we’ve been discussing the matter with the Azerbaijani
officials in order to find a solution to the situation,” the Swiss
Foreign Ministry written response reads.