Concerns in Europe: January - June 2001
11
Amnesty International September 2001
AI Index: EUR 01/003/2001
The criminal case against Rauf Arifoglu was returned
to the Office of the Procurator for additional
investigation in February, according to his lawyer.
The lawyer stated that this was the second time that
the period of investigation had been extended. He had
been arrested on 22 August 2000 at his home in Baku
after police claimed to have found an illegally-held
“Makarov” pistol in the apartment. Rauf Arifoglu,
editor of the opposition newspaper Yeni Musavat,
strongly denied the charge, and claimed that the pistol
was planted by police to fabricate grounds for arrest
and implicate him in a failed hijacking several days
earlier.
Reports of police ill-treatment of journalists
During the period under review, AI received reports
of a number of incidents in which police, sometimes
together with unidentified men in civilian clothing,
allegedly ill-treated journalists. For example, on 12
May police reportedly beat a number of journalists
covering an unsanctioned demonstration of an
estimated 2,000 people organized by the opposition
Democratic Party of Azerbaijan (ADP) in Fizuli
square in the centre of Baku, to demand the release of
political prisoners. Reportedly, the editor-in-chief of
Hurriet (the newspaper of the ADP), Suleiman
Mamedli, was attacked, beaten and detained by police;
Seimur Verdizade, correspondent of Bu Gyun
newspaper, was beaten by men in civilian clothing
who also broke his cassette recorder; Aibeniz
Velikhanly and Parvin Sadai, correspondents of
Milletin Sesi newspaper, sustained minor injuries
inflicted by police; men in civilian clothing beat
Raghim Gadinov, correspondent of 525-ci qezet
newspaper, and broke his cassette recorder; police
physically assaulted reporters of Russian ORT and
NTV and Turkish television channels and interfered
with their filming; and Rasim Mustafaoglu, an editor
of Hurriet, had minor injuries inflicted by men in
civilian clothing who also confiscated his journalist
identification.
Alleged failure to protect women demonstrators
At about 1pm on 20 June, around 30 to 40 women
activists are reported to have conducted a silent sit-
down demonstration in a square near the State
Philharmonic building in Baku, in protest against
police violence. The demonstration is understood to
have been organized by the Dilara Aliyeva Society to
Protect Women’s Rights, in conjunction with other
human rights organizations. Reportedly, police
officers attempted to prevent the demonstration from
taking place, but are then said to have left the women
alone. However, men in civilian clothing then
allegedly appeared in the square and tried violently to
seize and destroy the protestors’ placards, reportedly
twisting some of the women activists’ arms in the
process. Some of the women were reportedly injured.
The women assaulted reportedly include the chair of
the Dilara Aliyeva Society to Protect Women’s
Rights, and a well-known singer, Flora Kerimova. A
large group of police officers reportedly stood nearby
and watched while this happened. The head of Sabail
District Police Department who was present at the
demonstration is reported to have stated that the
incident was the women’s “own provocation”.
Deaths in custody
The case of Ilgar Javadov
Ilgar Javadov, a 28-year-old engineer with the oil
company SOCAR, died following his detention at
police station No. 9 in Baku’s Sabail District on 13
May. Ilgar Javadov’s relatives believe that he died in
the early hours of 13 May after being severely beaten
by police officers, causing injuries such as fractures to
the right arm, ribs and spine, and bruising to the legs
and body. Ilgar Javadov’s lawyer was reported on 23
May to have announced that a forensic examination
had proved the cause of death was beating. However,
police sources have reportedly claimed that Ilgar
Javadov sustained these injuries after falling to his
death from the second floor of the police station while
trying to escape. According to this account, Ilgar
Javadov requested to go to the lavatory and while
unguarded he sought to climb out of a window. He lost
his balance, however, and fell into the courtyard
below. Medical aid was summoned, but Ilgar Javadov
died before the ambulance arrived. It is not clear how
this account fits in with another report shortly after
Ilgar Javadov’s death, which stated that a criminal
case had been instituted against three police officers
from police station No. 9 on a charge of incitement to
suicide (Article 125 of the Criminal Code). A later
report stated that the charge was changed to
“exceeding official powers with the use or threat of
force” under Article 309.2. According to a report
received by AI, a court hearing was arranged at short
notice in Sabail District at which all three police
officers were released from custody (AI is seeking
clarification as to the nature of the court hearing). Ilgar
Javadov’s relatives are demanding that his body be
exhumed in order to establish the exact cause of his
death.
Unofficial and official reports also differ as to the
reason Ilgar Javadov was initially detained. According
to his wife, Jannet Abdullayeva, Ilgar Javadov resisted
being forced into a police car by police who said they
wanted to take him to the police station to check his
identity (he did not have his documents with him).
Another police car was summoned, and the arriving
officers reportedly beat Ilgar Javadov with truncheons
and demanded a bribe not to detain him. Regarding the
money he had on him as insufficient, the officers took
Ilgar Javadov away and told his wife to bring the
necessary sum to police station No. 9 within one hour
in order to obtain her husband’s release. A different
version is given by the head of the Sabail District
Police Administration at the time, Nazim Nagiyev,
who is quoted as stating that police officers intervened