10
Concerns in Europe: January - June 2001
AI Index: EUR 01/003/2001
Amnesty International September 2001
international consensus that the death penalty is an
unacceptable punishment. The extradition law also
forbids extradition if there are sufficient grounds to
believe that the person would face torture, cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in the
requesting country, or if the individual would face
persecution for reasons of race, nationality, language,
religion, citizenship, political opinion or sex.
Political prisoners
(update to AI Index: EUR 01/001/2001)
Reports suggested that conditions of detention in
Gobustan strict regime prison, where many political
prisoners are detained, might amount to cruel,
inhuman and degrading treatment. For example,
according to his lawyer Alakram Alakbar oglu
Hummatov (one of the three political prisoners whose
cases were highlighted by the Council of Europe), was
being held in a cell with no ventilation, and with an
electric light which was permanently switched on,
resulting in temperatures in his cell reaching 44
degrees centigrade. In the case of Alakram
Hummatov, his health appeared to be particularly at
risk, as he was reportedly suffering from pulmonary
tuberculosis and has suffered two heart attacks. He
had been transferred from Bayilov prison to Gobustan
prison on 5 January, together with other prisoners
including Rahim Hasan oglu Qaziyev. Iskender Mejid
oglu Hamidov, another political prisoner who was
transferred to Gobustan on 8 February, was reported
to have been denied visits from his family for a three-
month-long stretch. He also reportedly experienced
problems receiving parcels of letters, warm clothing
and bedding following his transfer to Gobustan.
Arrests post elections
(update to AI Index: EUR 01/001/2001)
On 26 March, members of the Jalilabad branch of
opposition party Musavat were sentenced to prison
terms of 12 to 18 months for their part in organizing
demonstrations in Jalilabad following the November
parliamentary elections last year in which there were
reportedly violent clashes with the police. Alif Badirli,
said to be Chair of the Jalilabad branch of Musavat,
and three political activists, Iman Zeynalov, Rustam
Rustamov and Aliheydar Salmani, were reportedly
among those arrested on 18 November 2000 under an
administrative procedure in connection with the mass
protest. They were detained at the Jalilabad police
station. Iman Zeynalov and Rustam Rustamov were
both subsequently arrested on 23 November under the
criminal procedure for allegedly wounding a police
officer. Opposition sources report that Iman Zeynalov,
who is said to suffer from a heart condition, was
beaten by police at the Jalilabad regional police
station. There were also reports of serious
irregularities in the trial process such as the use of
fabricated evidence. A police officer (whose name is
known to AI) reportedly withdrew his initial evidence
against the defendants, and stated in a court hearing on
7 March that he had been forced to give false evidence
in the case by heads of the local law enforcement
organs.
In April, the Office of the Procurator General
replied to a letter from AI which detailed the
organization’s concerns regarding a number of arrests
following mass disturbances in Sheki on 18 November
2000. The reply states that investigations were opened
under Articles 233 (organizing groups/movements
leading to disturbance of public order), 186.2.2
(intentional damaging of property), and 315.2
(resistance or violence against representatives of the
state) of the Criminal Code, and that a number of
individuals were charged with these articles and were
detained.
AI had raised concerns about some individual
allegations
of
ill-treatment
of
demonstrators,
including the case of Anvar Gulusoy and the case of
Gulhar Pashayeva. In response, the Office of the
Procurator General confirms in its letter that Anvar
Gulusoy had been detained, but does not comment on
the allegations he was beaten by police. AI had
received reports that he had sustained a broken arm as
a result of being beaten by police. The letter also states
that Gulhar Pashayeva had not been formally detained
or prosecuted. AI had received reports that on 20
November, police officers had taken 61-year-old
Gulhar Pashayeva to a police station in the city of
Sheki and had demanded that she admit to taking part
in the meeting, and name others who had done so. She
initially refused, and then described how three officers
had severely beaten her and threatened to rape her
with a truncheon. Employees at the Central Hospital
in Sheki were said to have been too afraid of the police
to render medical assistance to Gulhar Pashayeva, and
it is also reported that the state forensic service in
Baku would not examine her as the procuracy
declined to request a medical examination from them.
Fair trial concerns
The case of Natig Efendiyev
On 11 January, the Court for Grave Military Crimes
sentenced Natig Efendiyev, said to be former head of
Ganja city police, to life imprisonment and stripped
him of military rank and orders after convicting him
of attempting a coup in 1999. In February last year, AI
had raised concerns with the Azerbaijani authorities at
reports that he had not been given access to a defence
lawyer up to two weeks after his arrest, and sought
assurances that both Natig Efendiyev and Rza
Mamedov, detained together with him, would receive
fair trials in accordance with international standards.
However, AI has yet to receive a response from the
Azerbaijani authorities to these concerns. During the
course of the trial, which started in October last year,
the lawyers for the defence are reported to have
complained of procedural irregularities and that the
hearings were not objective. Natig Efendiyev had
reportedly been detained on or around 11 January
2000 in Turkey and subsequently returned to
Azerbaijan.
The case of Rauf Arifoglu
(update to AI Index: EUR 01/001/2001)