Azerbaijan: Sentencing of Mr. Etibar Guliyev

Case AZE 081105.2 - Follow up to case AZE 081105 and case AZE 081105.1

Arbitrary arrest/detention/ sentencing

Geneva, 15 March 2006

The International Secretariat of OMCT has received new information on the following situation in Azerbaijan.

New Information

The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the Human Rights Centre of Azerbaijan (HRCA), a member of the OMCT network, that Mr. Etibar Guliyev, who has been detained since 17 October 2005, was sentenced to 2.5 years imprisonment on charges of plotting a coup d’état.

The International Secretariat of OMCT has no further information regarding the case of Mr. Natik Efendiyev.

Brief reminder of the situation

The International Secretariat of OMCT was previously informed by HRCA that Mr. Etibar Guliyev was detained on 17 October 2005, on charges of plotting a coup d’état. Mr. Quliyev is a member of the Azerbaijan Democratic Party and a former political prisoner pardoned by the president in 2004. He was detained in the Department of Organised Crimes and had limited access to his lawyer. His case was heard in the Department of Organised Crimes, instead of in court as required by the Azerbaijani law.

According to the information received Mr. Natik Efendiyev was allegedly also arrested on 17 October 2005, along with Mr. Etibar Guliyev. Mr. Natik Efendiyev is former head of the police department of Gyandja, and currently the deputy chairman of the opposition Azerbaijan Democratic Party. He is a former political prisoner who received a pardon from the president in 2004. He was charged with plotting a coup d’état, reportedly due to his close relationship to Mr. Rasul Guliyev. Mr. Natik Efendiyev was allegedly beaten as well as electrocuted and consequently hospitalised in Baku after which he was held at the organised crime unit of the Interior Ministry. Later he was transferred to Bayil Prison of the Ministry of Justice, where detention conditions are slightly better. Nevertheless, he remained in relative isolation (he has access to his lawyer but family members are not allowed to visit). His wife stated that when his lawyer went to visit Mr. Efendiyev, he repeatedly fainted during the meeting and could hardly speak. Furthermore, just as in the case of Mr. Guliyev, Mr. Efendiyev’s case was heard in the Department of Organised Crimes, instead of in court as required by the Azerbaijani law.

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 continue to write to the authorities in Azerbaijan urging them to:
i. Take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Etibar Guliyev and Mr. Natik Efendiyev;
ii. Order the immediate release of Mr. Etibar Guliyev and Mr. Natik Efendiyev and the annulment of the illegally obtained convictions.
iii. Should legitimate grounds for prosecution remain, order a retrial before a properly constituted court of law in which Mr. Etibar Guliyev and Mr. Natik Efendiyev procedural rights to a fair and impartial hearing are guaranteed at all times;
iv. 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;
v. 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
  
  
• Minister of Internal Affairs of the Azerbaijani Republic, Lt.-Gen. Ramil Usubov, Fax: + 994 12 492 45 90
  
  
• S.E. l’AmbassadeurH.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
  
  
• Minister of Justice in Azerbaijan, Mr. Fikret Mamedov, Prospekt Stroitelej, 1 Baku Azerbaijan, e-mail: contact@justice.gov.az, Tel (99412) 430 01 16, Fax (99412) 430 09 81

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

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Geneva, 15 March 2006.

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