Azerbaijan: Police Violence Mars Election Campaign
Prospects for Free Parliamentary Elections in Doubt
Mounting police violence against members of the political opposition in Azerbaijan casts serious doubt on the
government’s commitment to ensuring free and fair parliamentary elections on November 6, Human Rights Watch said today.
Azerbaijan’s international partners, particularly the United States and European Union countries, should forcefully
condemn the attacks taking place during the election campaign, which began in September. These countries should also
make clear that a repeat of the human rights abuses that marred the 2003 presidential elections would carry real
consequences, including cuts to financial assistance benefiting the government.
The latest attack against political opposition members took place on October 1, when police beat and arrested opposition
party members who attempted to hold a pre-election rally in the center of Baku, the capital. A Human Rights Watch
researcher observed police beating opposition activists with batons and saw several injured protesters. One protester
was bleeding from the head and had marks across his back consistent with having been beaten with a baton. He told Human
Rights Watch that he was one of a number of opposition protesters that the police had attacked and beaten.
“The Azerbaijani authorities are creating an environment of intimidation that flies in the face of the idea of free and
fair elections,” said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director of Human Rights Watch. “The international
community must firmly condemn the attacks and make it clear that freedom of assembly is a fundamental human right that
must be respected.”
On October 1, prior to the scheduled start of the rally at 4 p.m., police blocked off the streets surrounding May 28
Square, the central Baku meeting place designated by the opposition Azadliq block for its unauthorized rally. From early
that morning, police began to detain opposition members. Ali Kerimli, head of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party,
estimated that more than 150 opposition members were detained that day. Human Rights Watch spoke to several
international observers who saw the police filling buses with people they had detained from among the crowds in the city
center that afternoon. The detainees included at least four opposition candidates for the election. Human Rights Watch
received information that some of the detainees were sentenced to 10 days in prison for failing to follow police
instructions and that the authorities did not allow defense lawyers in court.
This is the second week running that the opposition in Azerbaijan has tried to hold an unauthorized rally in the center
of the capital. The government has authorized rallies in locations far from the city center, which the opposition has
rejected. During the first attempted unauthorized rally, on September 25, at which police also beat and detained
opposition members, the government offered to negotiate over locations. However, the negotiations quickly broke down,
with the government failing to send representatives to a meeting hosted by the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE) to discuss locations for an opposition rally on September 29.
“If the Azerbaijani government wants to convince anyone that it is holding elections in line with international
standards, allowing the opposition to hold pre-election rallies in the city center would be a good place to start,” said
Cartner.
Human Rights Watch has documented other restrictions on freedom of assembly during the election campaign. Candidates for
opposition parties have told Human Rights Watch that police and local authorities regularly interfere when they want to
meet with voters in their constituencies. In one example, a sitting member of parliament and candidate for the
Azerbaijan Popular Front Party, Jamil Gasanli, told Human Rights Watch that local authorities denied him permission to
hold a meeting on September 21 with voters from his constituency, even though the meeting was to be held in a place
previously designated by the local authorities for such meetings. According to Gasanli, approximately 100 police
officers dispersed the crowd that had gathered for the meeting. Police also detained two of his election campaign staff,
he said.
In related events, Said Nuri, a member of Yeni Fikir (New Thinking), an opposition-aligned youth movement, has remained
in detention without charge for three weeks since his arrest on September 12. Shortly after his arrest, his health
deteriorated due to a long-standing anemic blood condition, and he was hospitalized. Police are currently guarding him
in hospital and restricting access to him. According to his lawyer, Yaver Huseyn, Nuri has not been formally charged,
but the police will not allow his relatives to take him home.
Prosecuting authorities accused Nuri of attempting to violently overthrow the government, basing these accusations on
his attendance at an international conference on democracy in Poland. He is one of three members of Yeni Fikir now in
custody, facing similar accusations. The other two— Ruslan Bashirli, the head of the organization, and Ramin Tagaev—have
been formally charged with attempting to violently overthrow the government and have been remanded in custody for three
months. The cases against the three men appear to be politically motivated.
Following Bashirli’s arrest, the government apparently launched a campaign against Yeni Fikir and the APFP, which is
closely associated with Yeni Fikir. According to Bashirli’s lawyer, Elchin Gambarov, authorities put pressure on
Bashirili to denounce Ali Kerimli, the leader of the APFP, on television.
“It’s time for the international community to insist that arbitrary arrests, beatings and intimidation will not be
tolerated,” said Cartner. “The United States and the EU should react now to these clear signs of pre-election repression
instead of waiting for the situation to deteriorate even further.”
Human Rights Watch noted that a common fear among Azerbaijanis was that the United States would not react to human
rights abuses in the country because Washington prioritized stability for its oil investments.
“The U.S. needs to convey, loud and clear, that future relations with Azerbaijan depend on the government’s rights
record,” said Cartner. “The forthcoming elections should be a litmus test in this respect.”
Azerbaijan has a history of elections that breach international standards. The OSCE concluded that the October 2003
presidential election was fraudulent. It was followed by violent protests to which police and other law enforcement
agencies responded with excessive force, killing at least one protester. Mass arrests followed. Human Rights Watch
documented police torture of detainees, including the use of beating, electric shock and threats of rape during the 2003
elections. More than 100 opposition members and supporters were imprisoned after trials that breached international
standards.