Azerbaijani youth activists trial puts spotlight on human rights

4/17/06

With just over a week before Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev meets with US President George W Bush, the closed-door trial of three Azerbaijani youth movement leaders charged with plotting to overthrow the government has sparked a sharp condemnation of Azerbaijan's human rights practices.

The three Yeni Fikir (New Thinking) activists – Ruslan Bashirli, leader of the organization, and deputies Ramin Tagiyev and Said Nuri – have been charged with preparing a government coup and "illegal entrepreneurship," or tax evasion. The prosecution has dropped a previous accusation that the three were spying for Armenia.

Judge Tofiq Pashayev, one of three judges hearing the case against the Yeni Fikir group, ruled on April 7 that media and the public would be barred from the courtroom for "national security concerns." In response, the three men have refused to testify and to have legal representation in court. Three court-appointed defense lawyers have since been assigned to the trio, however.

The Baku mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), local human rights activists and the opposition Azadlig alliance have protested the court decision to conduct the hearings behind closed doors. "We were surprised to learn about the decision since the main evidence of the prosecution had been shown on state and private TV channels before the investigation started," Maurizio Pavesi, head of the OSCE mission, said in an April 6 statement. The decision does little to increase public trust in Azerbaijan's judiciary system, Pavesi argued, and makes it impossible for OSCE observers to assess the fairness of the trial and whether it meets international standards.

In an April 13 interview with Radio Liberty's Azeri-language service, a spokesperson for the US State Department Bureau for European and Asian Affairs echoed those concerns. "Conducting these proceedings behind closed doors and restricting the defendants' access to the evidence against them are inconsistent with international norms and basic rule of law" said Linda Hartley, Turan news service reported.

International human rights organizations have also expressed skepticism about the chances for a fair trial. "Azerbaijan's government is known for pressing charges against opposition figures for what appear to be political reasons, and the Yeni Fikir case fits this pattern," Human Rights Watch Europe and Central Asia Division Executive Director Holly Cartner said in a March 31 statement. "We are deeply concerned that the three men will not get a fair trial."

Police are keeping careful watch on the courthouse, located in downtown Baku, where the trial is being held, with police cars stationed throughout the neighborhood to prevent protests.

Yeni Fikir leader Ruslan Bashirli, 27, was arrested in late July 2005 after returning from a conference in Tbilisi, where he allegedly was paid by Armenian agents to organize a coup against President Ilham Aliyev. Bashirli's associate, Osman Alimuradov, who accompanied him to Tbilisi, became the main source for the allegations against Bashirli and provided a videotape that supposedly substantiated his claims. Alimuradov, also a Yeni Fikir member, testified that he had tried to convince Bashirli to refuse the money offered for the coup, but had failed. Two of Bashirli's deputies, Said Nuri and Ramin Tagiyev, were later detained on similar charges.

At the time of the group's arrests last summer, many independent observers and opposition members had argued that the detentions were related to Azerbaijan's contentious parliamentary elections campaign. [For background, see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Yeni Fikir had a loose affiliation with the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), one of the country's leading opposition parties, and a founding member of the opposition election alliance Azadlig (Freedom). In a statement from the prosecutor general's office, PFPA Chairman Ali Kerimli was accused of being associated with the alleged Armenian-backed coup attempt, but was never formally charged.

Though the Yeni Fikir case attracted considerable initial media attention last summer during the parliamentary campaign, local television stations are now largely ignoring the trial, leaving the bulk of coverage to independent and opposition print media.

Government representatives to date have refrained from any comment about the trial.

Ironically, defendant Said Nuri, currently under house arrest, has served as the key press conduit for information about the proceedings. His role has prompted repeated warnings from the state prosecutor and Pashayev that he will be arrested if he does not stop issuing "disinformation" about the proceedings.

According to Nuri, the prosecution's two main witnesses – Osman Alimuradov and Merab Jibutia, a Georgian citizen who prosecutors claim was one of the alleged Armenian agents paying Bashirli – have already been questioned. Jibutia was arrested in autumn 2005, while crossing the Georgian-Azerbaijani border carrying a false passport and Armenian currency. Opposition media have alleged that both Alimuradov and Jibutia were acting at the behest of the Azerbaijani special services.

"Jibutia, their [the prosecution's] own agent, put the authorities in a spot. The prosecutor asked four times whether [PFPA leader] Ali Kerimli asked for any help with organizing a coup attempt and was very angry to get the answer ‘No' each time ... [Jibutia] gives contradictory answers and they [the prosecution] repeat their questions if they have not received the desired answer," claimed Nuri.

The video tape supplied by Alimuradov that shows Bashirli allegedly signing a receipt for $2,000 and drinking cognac with two men identified by state prosecutors as Armenian agents has not been submitted as evidence, Nuri said. The film had earlier been broadcast regularly on pro-government television channels and public video displays.

Nuri also stated that no medical examination has yet been scheduled to confirm the defense charge that investigators tortured Ruslan Bashirli. "In the preliminary hearing on March 31, the judge agreed to begin preparations for this. But no medical examination has been conducted."

The defendants believe that the charges against them are "made up by the law enforcement agencies of Azerbaijan," and will not testify in their own defense. The group expects to receive the maximum punishment for the charges brought against them, Nuri continued. Under Azerbaijan's criminal code, "preparing a government coup" is punishable by a 10-15-year prison sentence.

"There is no justice in an Azerbaijani court. We will be the next political prisoners. What can we do? We only hope that society understands the real meaning of things," Nuri said.

Posted April 17, 2006 © Eurasianet