Azerbaijan: Arbitrary arrest and detention / torture and detention of opposition party leaders

Case AZE 081105

Arbitrary arrest and detention / Torture
The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Azerbaijan.

Brief description of the situation

The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the Human Rights Centre of Azerbaijan, a member of the OMCT network, that Mr. Natik Efendiyev, former head of the police department of Gyandja, and currently the deputy chairman of the opposition Democratic Party, has been tortured and is currently in hospital in Baku.

According to the information received, Mr. Efendiyev was detained on 17th October 2005, on charges of plotting a coup d’état, and reportedly due to his close relationship to Mr. Rasul Guliyev. He reportedly was beaten and electrocuted. He was held at the organised crime unit of the Interior Ministry. His wife stated that when his lawyer went to visit Mr. Efendiyev, he repeatedly fainted during the meeting and could hardly speak. Furthermore, Mr. Efendiyev’s case has been preliminary tried in the Department of Organised Crimes, instead of in court as required by the law.

Mr. Efendiyev is a former political prisoner and received a pardon from the president in 2004. He was arrested on 17th October, along with Mr. Etibar Guliyev, also a member of the Azerbaijan Democratic Party, and previously a political prisoner pardoned by the president in 2004.

Mr. Rasul Guliyev, leader of the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan, has been accused of embezzlement, charges which seem to be politically motivated. Mr. Guliyev has been living in the United States for several years and declared that he would return to Azerbaijan to run in the presidential elections. The prosecutor-general had said that he would be immediately arrested and jailed if he returned to Azerbaijan. (See also Case AZE 031105 relating to the arrest of Prof. Eldar Salayev)

Action requested:

Please write to the authorities in Azerbaijan urging them to:
i. Take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Mr. Natik Efendiyev and Mr. Etibar Guliyev;
ii. Order the immediate release of Mr. Natik Efendiyev and Mr. Etibar Guliyev in the absence of valid legal charges, and if such charges exist, to ensure that they are given a prompt and fair trial, in which their procedural rights are guaranteed at all times;
iii. Order a thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances of these events, in particular the reports of torture, in order to identify those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;
iv. Guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with international human rights standards.

Addresses:

• Mr. Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Office of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, 19 Istiqlaliyyat St., Baku AZ1066, Azerbaijan, Fax: +994 12 492 06 25, +994 412 92 28 68, E-mail: office@apparat.gov.az, president@gov.az, root@lider.baku.az
  
  
• Prosecutor’s Office, 7 Nigar Rafibeyli St., Baku, Azerbaijan, Fax: +994 12 492 06 82, +994 12 492 26 63, E-mail: prosec@azeri.com
  
  
• Lt.-Gen. Ramil Usubov, Minister of Internal Affairs of the Azerbaijani Republic, Fax: + 994 12 492 45 90
  
  
• Mr. Fikret Mamedov, Minister of Justice in Azerbaijan, Prospekt Stroitelej, 1 Baku Azerbaijan, e-mail: contact@justice.gov.az, Tel (99412) 430 01 16, Fax (99412) 430 09 81
  
  
• H.E. Ambassador, Mr. Elchin Amirbayov, Rue de Lausanne 67, CH-1202, Genève, Suisse, e-mail : az.mission.unog@iprolink.ch, fax: +4122 901 18 44

Please also write to the embassy of Azerbaijan in your respective country.

Geneva, 8th November 2005.

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.