AZERBAIJAN: Court in Baku jails antigovernment opposition activists

Record ID: 218135

  • Title: AZERBAIJAN: Court in Baku jails antigovernment opposition activists
  • Date: 4th October 2011
  • Summary: BAKU, AZERBAIJAN (SEPTEMBER 30, 2011) (REUTERS) TRAFFIC ON STREET VARIOUS OF DEFENDANTS GETTING OUT OF POLICE VAN AND BEING ESCORTED TO COURT BUILDING SIGN READING " AZERI DISTRICT COURT" ONE MORE DEFENDANT BEING ESCORTED INTO COURT BUILDING SECURITY IN FRONT OF COURT BUILDING VARIOUS OF OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS AND RELATIVES OUTSIDE COURT ENTRANCE (SOUNDBITE) (Azerba
  • Embargoed: 19th October 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan
  • Country: Azerbaijan
  • Topics: Crime,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA40S1OR6KAZIVS0F1QQ52LUMU8
  • Story Text: A court in Baku sentenced four anti-government opposition activists on Monday (October 3), to jail terms from two to two and a half years in jail for, as the verdict read, organising 'actions resulting in the violation of public order, and resisting and using force against government officials.' Arif Hajili of the opposition 'Musavat' party, Tural Abbasli of the 'Musavat' youth organization, and Mammad Majidli from the Azerbaijani Popular Front (APFP), were sentenced to two and a half years in jail and Fuad Qahramanli of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party to two years on probation.
    All four opposition activists were rounded up together with dozens of others at an April 2 anti-government rally which was violently dispersed by riot police.
    Arif Hajili, however, was arrested along with three opposition supporters during the unrest following the October 2003 presidential elections and the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Azerbaijani government should pay him 10,000 Euro of compensation for wrongful imprisonment.
    An Azeri Popular Front Party leader, Ali Kerimly, said that his opposition party was planning a protest after the verdict.
    "We addressed our people and asked them to join the opposition parties, to join the Public Council, asked them to participate in all possible protests in different regions of the country. We are thinking about organising mass protests. And we will hold them," said Ali Kerimly after the verdict was read.
    Opposition and rights groups said the verdict highlights shrinking freedoms under President Ilham Aliyev.
    "After this (verdict) we will go to Court of Appeal and will take all possible legal measures including the appeal to the European Court. We will start working in this direction," said Nemat Kerimly, one of the lawyers working on the case.
    Small protests against the hardline rule of President Ilham Aliyev, which started in spring, have been regularly dispersed by police.
    Sandwiched between Russia, Iran and Turkey, Azerbaijan is an important energy supplier to Europe and a transit route for the U.S. troops in Afghanistan, a role rights groups say cushions the country from Western criticism of its record on democracy.
    The Aliyev family has dominated Azerbaijan for decades, first under long-serving leader Heydar Aliyev and since 2003 under his son Ilham, but analysts see little threat to President Aliyev, despite voiced accusations of autocratic rule in the oil and gas rich country.
    Rights groups also accuse Aliyev's government of tramping on democratic freedoms under cover of oil-fueled economic boom.
    At the same time the mainstream opposition of the country is seen as devilled and ineffective, with its leadership still associated with the chaos and separatist war that marred Azerbaijan's first years of independence from the Soviet Union.
    Azerbaijan must act urgently to uphold freedom of expression and assembly and put an end to the imprisonment of government critics on fabricated charges, Europe's main human rights body said last week.
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