EU, PACE AND INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS CONDEMN VERDICT AGAINST AZERBAIJANI HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER

17:28 20/04/2015 >> LAW

The European Union calls on Azerbaijan to abide by its international
commitments and to establish greater trust in the independence and
professionalism of its judicial system, as well as to ensure that
Rasul Jafarov is given the opportunity to appeal the verdict in a
fair and unbiased process, the statement, published on EU official
website, reads.

“The six and a half year custodial sentence imposed by an Azerbaijan
court on Mr Rasul Jafarov, a well-known human rights defender
and respected partner of international donors, appears harsh and
disproportionate to the alleged offences on which it is based.

Procedural shortcomings, witnessed by international monitors during
the trial of Mr Jafarov, raise concerns about due legal processes,”
the EU says.

The co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of Azerbaijan, Pedro Agramunt and
Tadeusz Iwinski, have also released a statement noting that such a long
sentence against a human rights defender for charges in connection
to administering an NGO could be perceived as disproportionate. They
also reminded that an application is pending before European Court of
Human Rights against Jafarov’s arrest and pre-trial detention, in which
the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights has intervened
as a third party. The statement is published on PACE website.

The international human rights organization Freedom House also made a
statement condemning the politically motivated imprisonment of Rasul
Jafarov, who was convicted on ludicrous charges. The verdict fits
“a pattern of prosecutions against leading human rights defenders
and investigative journalists, including Leyla Yunus, Intigam
Aliyev, Emin Huseynov and Khadija Ismail, on trumped up charges. The
Azerbaijani authorities seem purposefully oblivious to the irony of
sentencing an activist on counts of financial wrong-doing, given that
President, Ilham Aliyev has accrued great wealth while in power,”
said Susan Corke, director of Eurasia programs of Freedom House,
urging Europe’s leaders not to attend the European Games in Baku,
as a clear condemnation of Azerbaijan’s actions.

The international organization Human Rights Watch has released a video
on its website, featuring prominent activists and journalists detained
in the recent months – the human rights defenders Rasul Jafarov,
Intigam Aliyev, Leyla Yunus and her husband Arif, investigative
journalist Khadija Ismayilova and the director of the Institute for
Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) – Emin Huseynov.

“With less than two months to go to the European Games, the spotlight
is increasingly on Azerbaijan’s terrible human rights record and
its political prosecutions of critics. This is a key moment for
Azerbaijan’s partners, including the European Union, to call on
Azerbaijan to release the critics it has thrown behind bars and end
its crackdown,” said Jane Buchanan, associate Europe and Central Asia
director at Human Rights Watch. She added that the political prisoners
and those in exile are fully aware that thousands of athletes, sports
fans, journalists, and others will soon arrive in Baku to celebrate a
major new international event. They are counting on Olympic leaders
and governments to not just come to the Baku party, but to stand up
for what is right, by insisting on freedom for those wrongly accused.

The Sport for Rights coalition of international organizations also
resolutely condemned the sentencing of Rasul Jafarov to 6.5 years’
imprisonment, demanding his immediate release and calling for robust
sanctions against Azerbaijan unless the government takes concrete steps
to halt the crackdown in the country. The statement is published on
the website of the human right organization Index on Censorship.

“This ridiculous sentence is a punishment for Jafarov’s human rights
activism. The authoritarian regime in Baku are scared of the attention
Jafarov would bring during the high profile sport events they are
proudly hosting – the European Games in June this year and the Formula
One Grand Prix in 2016,” said Thomas Hughes, Executive Director of
Article 19. Index on Censorship CEO Jodie Ginsberg added that the
Baku games should not be used as a means to blind the wider world to
the appalling treatment being meted out to journalists and activists
in Azerbaijan. The international community must unite in condemning
the Azerbaijani government and in calling for the immediate release
of Rasul Jafarov and his compatriots.

As the statement has it, the coalition calls for the EU and its Member
States to impose targeted sanctions – for instance visa ban- against
those members of the regime who systematically abuse fundamental
human rights of citizens of Azerbaijan. At the same time, given
the unprecedented human rights crisis in Azerbaijan, the coalition
calls for the European Olympic Committee to establish a working group
to examine specific cases of right abuses that violates the spirit
and letter of the Olympic Charter and the atmosphere of the first
European Games.

“A robust response from the European Olympic Committee is required,
together with sanctions from the European Union and United States.

This is the only way to bring about the release of Rasul Jafarov
and other political prisoners, including prominent human rights
defenders Leyla Yunus, Emin Huseynov, Anar Mammadli, award-winning
investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova and well-known politician
Ilgar Mammadov,” Platform London representative Emma Hughes said. Maria
Dahle, Executive Director of the Human Rights House Foundation
(HRHF), added that the authorities of Azerbaijan have now come to
an absolute low point of the regressive trend over the past years
and an even lower point will be reached with the expected sentencing
of human rights lawyer Intigam Aliyev the following week. She said
they expect governments, international organisations and corporate
businesses that have relations with the Azerbaijani government to
hold Azerbaijan accountable and react firmly. “Profound actions
and sanctions must be taken as a response to Azerbaijan’s severe
crackdown on independent civil society and human rights defenders –
and to Azerbaijan’s total disrespect of international agreements and
responsibilities,” she stressed.

The British newspaper The Time also covered the verdict of the lawyer
and human rights campaigner Rasul Jafarov. According to the article,
published on the newspaper website, Azerbaijan is cracking down on
domestic dissent before welcoming thousands of athletes and spectators
to the first European Games.

“Rasul Jafarov fell foul of the country’s autocratic government, headed
by President Aliyev. He planned to use the two-week sporting event
to highlight rights abuses in the corruption-plagued nation, which
relies on oil and gas revenues to fund its extravagant international
projects,” the article reads.

In his article about Jafarov’s case, published on the independent
news platform The News Hub, freelance journalist Cameron Kilmister
writes that given Azerbaijan’s media freedom index, it came as no
surprise to learn of Jafarov’s arrest in August, 2014.

“Whether Azerbaijan will cave to international pressure and allow
Jafarov to appeal his sentence is still unclear. Yet the activist has
now become one of the victims that he spent years trying to help,”
the author writes.

Rasul Jafarov, a well-known human rights defender, “Art for Democracy”
campaign organizer, was sentenced to 6.5 years’ imprisonment in
Azerbaijan. The verdict was brought in by the judge Eldar Ismayilov in
the Baku court of grave crimes on April 16. Jafarov is banned taking
up any post for three years after his release.

After the verdict was handed down, Jafarov said he considered it to be
trumped up and politically motivated. The court did not prove any of
the allegations brought against the human rights defender. All of the
prosecution witnesses testified in favor of the human rights defender,
and the process actually proved his complete innocence.

Related:

Azerbaijani human rights defender Rasul Jafarov sentenced to 6.5
years’ imprisonment

International community sharply condemns verdict against Azerbaijani
human rights defender Rasul Jafarov

Department of State responds to Azerbaijani media attacks: Attempting
to blame US is just distraction from their own problems

International human rights organizations condemn arrest of Azerbaijani
human rights defender Rasul Jafarov

From: Baghdasarian