Human rights watch. Azerbaijan: Ensure Rights for Ismayilli Protesters

Azerbaijani authorities should ensure that everyone detained in connection with riots and protests in the city of Ismayilli has access to a lawyer and that no one is ill-treated in custody. The authorities should free everyone detained in Baku, the capital, who did no more than peacefully protest events in Ismayilli, and ensure independent monitors enjoy unimpeded access to Ismayilli.

Violence erupted in Ismayilli, a regional center about 200 kilometers northwest of Baku, on January 23, 2013. A seemingly minor car accident led to riots and mass protests calling for the local governor’s resignation. Numerous news media reports described several waves of clashes between law enforcement and protesters. Police used teargas and rubber bullets to quash the riots and restore order. In the aftermath, dozens of people were arrested in Ismayilli, though authorities say that as of January 30 only 12 remain in custody, facing criminal charges of looting and organizing riots. Many others have been fined and released.

“The Azerbaijani authorities have a terrible record of ill-treating detainees,” said Giorgi Gogia, senior South Caucasus researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The government needs to make sure that no one held in relation to the riots and protests in Ismayilli is ill-treated. A key safeguard against that happening is to immediately allow detainees confidential meetings with their lawyers.”

Although information is difficult to verify as residents are afraid of speaking out, Human Rights Watch spoke with three lawyers who reported several incidents of due process violations and one case in which a detainee was beaten in custody.

On January 26 in Baku, a large number of uniformed and plainclothes police rounded up dozens of people who tried to hold a peaceful, but unsanctioned, rally in the city center to express solidarity with people in Ismayilli.

On January 29 in Ismayilli, police stopped a group of 20 human rights defenders monitoring events there. A member of the group said police took five of them to the police station for questioning, and then released them, with instructions for the group to leave Ismayilli because their presence risked “raising tensions.” The group remained in Ismayilli.

The government should allow human rights monitors and journalists unimpeded access to Ismayilli to document the events that began on January 23, as well as assess the treatment of detainees, and whether the police have engaged in excessive force to quell the riots, Human Rights Watch said.

Human Rights Watch is not in a position to assess whether the circumstances warranted use of force to disperse the protesters, nor if law enforcement escalated the use of force in a proportionate manner. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which has a mission in Baku and has carried out police training programs, should examine whether the use of force was carried out in accordance with international standards, Human Rights Watch said.

The Council of Europe assembly’s resolution on Azerbaijan’s rights record highlighted many outstanding concerns, including violations of freedom of assembly. The assembly urged the authorities to ensure freedom of assembly by allowing protest actions to take place in some areas of Baku city center and called on them to “refrain from using disproportionate police force against peaceful protesters.”

“Azerbaijan should heed to the Council of Europe’s recommendations and stop banning peaceful assemblies, release anyone detained for merely expressing their views publicly, and investigate law enforcements’ actions,” Gogia said.