Unlawful arrests, referendum and more in Aliyev's La La land

Remember the two youth activists detained in May in Azerbaijan? If you don't here is a story to freshen up your memory. The two men were detained unlawfully. There was no proof the two were allegedly drug users as police claimed. Not only were they detained unlawfully but they were also tortured, threatened with rape and not allowed to see their family members or the lawyer. 

It has now been more than two months since their detention and in these past two months they have only seen their family twice. In fact, only one, Giyas Ibrahimov was allowed to see his family even though by law they are allowed family visits once a week according to their lawyer. 

The lawyer also said that during medical examination on July 5 and 12, doctors concluded the two were clean of drugs and in fact there were no traces of any substance. 

Not surprisingly when the lawyer asked that the fingerprints found on drug packages "discovered" during the search were compared with fingerprints of the two youth activist, the court dismissed this request. 

Where does this leave us? For starers that neither Giyas nor Bayram are drug addicts. We have already known that Azerbaijan's judiciary is a shit-show and fair trial to activists, journalists, rights defenders is non existent. 

Their faith will be decided soon. I fear it won't be a good outcome. But then maybe the thought of acquiring more power via referendum will make the government officials forget about these two innocent gentlemen. 

After all, it is not an easy task to run a country especially if you fear you will be brought down by your very own "closed circle of special friends" who have been around you but you fear they have been around for far too long. Surely there is also the killing urge to stay in power for as long as possible, groom your children to become future presidents and so on. 

In fact, here are all proposed amendments to the constitution, for which Azerbaijan will hold a referendum on September 26. 

Please follow the link and read it online. 

Also in Aliyev's la la land are measures taken against Gulen establishments. A university, that is known for its quality education (unlike many other universities of Azerbaijan) was turned over to Baku Higher Oil School or simply put under the management of SOCAR (the State oil company). The university since 2013 was already under the management of Azerbaijan's International Education Center which was wounded by SOCAR. 

I wrote the following for Global Voices earlier about the matter: 

In 2014 when Erdogan went to Azerbaijan to visit President Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan promptly shut down a network of schools linked to Gulen that were regarded as some of the best in the country.

The management of 11 high schools, 13 university exam preparation centers and one private university was transferred to SOCAR, Azerbaijan's state oil company. Fast forward to July 18, 2016 and the pattern continues. After reportedly conferring with ally Erdogan, Aliyev decided to announce the closure of one of the country's few remaining bribe-free education establishments, the Caucasus University, which was founded by adherents of Gulen.

And last but not least one newspaper known for its ties with Gulen establishment was shut down while one TV channel's license was revoked after airing an interview with the cleric. 

Then there are banks and other business (unrelated to Gulen) but closing down as a result of the financial crisis. This time 4 more banks- Parabank, Zaminbank, Dekabank, Kredobank- had their license revoked. 

This all for now, until next update. 

Apologise form the statue! Now!

May 10, the annual Flower Day celebrations/aka lets celebrate dead president's birthday event go by this year with not much grandiose and extravagant spending. 

Then police discovers graffiti on the statue of the dead president. "F*** the system" someone has written and then the annual quote "Happy Slave Holiday". In Azerbaijan flower means "gül" [gyul] and slave means "qul" [gool]. The slave variation became a popular expression soon after the Flower Day began to be celebrated in Azerbaijan. 

Millions of Manats were spent on each holiday with flowers imported from all over the world. One MP at some point said it cost the country 14-15millionAZN [before devaluation that was approximately the same amount of millions in EUR]. The flowers would be assembled in few parks. There were also concerts and fireworks. Sometimes I even wondered whether Baku Mayor was actually celebrating president's death. 

But back to 2016 and the missing N!DA activists. 

So the two activists went missing May 10. On May 11 their whereabouts were still unknown. 

May 12, we heard from them. The two were being prosecuted for illegal drug possession [not the first time we see this charge used against activists in Azerbaijan]. And as if charges and 4 months detention isn't enough, the two are actually told to go and apologize in front of the dead president's statue. So they are supposed to stand in front of the statue, with state TV cameras filming all of this theater and ask the statue to forgive them? Seriously?!

What I don't understand is that if their crime is drug possession then why are they even told to go and apologize in front of the statue anyway?

Well, this is of course a rhetorical question. We all know the answer. Because it is all theater of the absurd.

N!DA activists OUT, N!DA activists IN

If you at any point, thought release of Azerbaijan's 14 political prisoners, suspension of sentences of Intigam Aliyev, Rauf Mirkadirov and permission to leave Azerbaijan granted to couple Leyla and Arif Yunus by the regime in Baku was a sign of progress, you were deeply deeply mistaken. It was not. Perhaps a sign of back door diplomacy working wonders yes, perhaps a sign of exchange of favors yes, but certainly, definitely and with full assurance NOT a sign president Aliyev and his government has any intention to become good all of a sudden.

Why? Well lets start from a criminal case launched against Meydan TV shortly after president Aliyev returned from his successful trip to Washington DC. Then there was another notice- 15 journalists  named in the investigation case against Meydan TV. Several current political prisoners motions for release and/or house arrest were dismissed by local courts and so on. 

And just yesterday there were news of two N!DA activists being detained. Hours after their detention their whereabouts are not known, their family and friends have not heard of them. Why? Because the government of Azerbaijan can do it. Because there are no checks and balances and because they hate, literally despise anyone who stands out and commits any act of disobedience. 

Bayram Mammadov and Giyasaddin Ibrahim were detained allegedly for writing "Fuck the System!" [in English] and "Happy Slaves Day!" [In Azerbaijani "Qul Bayraminiz Mubarek" ahead of Gul Bayrami or Flower Day celebrations] on a statue of Heydar Aliyev. May 10 is celebrated as Flower Day but also as President Heydar Aliyev's birthday. Since 2009, the government spent millions on celebrating this holiday bringing in flowers from all over the world and throwing them away two days later. This year however, as a result of the escalation on the front line and deaths of Azerbaijani service men, there was a symbolic celebration planting flowers. 

Strangely while the government pays its respects to the military personnel it did not do the same when ten days before the first celebrations of the Flower Day in 2009 there was an attack at the State Oil Academy killing more than a dozen of students and professors according to official data. 

So where does this all leave us?! Well, where we see that nothing has really changed in Azerbaijan and that official Baku's revolving door policy used against its critics is very much alive. And if the government is so much about respecting the dead, then we should cancel Azerbaijan's participation in Eurovision song contest, the Formula 1 race, and all other upcoming celebrations until we resolve all our troubles. 

This of course is called wishful thinking...

Killing her harshly

Yea, I know that song but its not about it, or maybe it is. What I am going to share is certainly about killing but not softly in this case. In prison they either kill you immediately or harshly (well you might say harshly softly too). 

Leyla Yunus, is a prominent human rights advocate from Azerbaijan. A woman of great respect, she has done her share of service to her country.

As many of you know she has been in prison. On false charges [just like 98 other political prisoners behind bars in Azerbaijan]. 

There has been a very special treatment towards Mrs. Yunus. She has been beaten by the prison guard already. She has been harassed by her cell mate. But above all, it looks like the prison management is determined on killing Mrs. Yunus. It must be easy for them. Keep the cell without heating. Don't give the person hot water to wash. Keep the medication away and voila soon you might have a dead inmate.

She has written numerous complaints, sent statements and pleas. But to no avail. The recent statement by her lawyers says she might not survive this winter unless the facilities and treatment changes and she is given proper medical care at the hospital.  It is unlikely the prison will comply since they don't care and they are bound to what the guys with big bellies "up there" tell them to do.

So what its going to be? Killing her harshly? Or softly? Or saving face and preventing a disaster rolling over their heads?!

Surreal Azerbaijan

Amid all the bad news coming from home, seeing this tweet on my feed felt surreal today. Really? Golf? Tournament? While innocent people are convicted on trumped up charges, others will be golfing. If it ain't surreal then what is it?! This is how pretty much things are in Azerbaijan. While some suffer, others enjoy the suffering and indulge themselves in surrealism of 21st century prospering Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan Golf Federation preparing for international tournament  http://t.co/Y1U71N2MVp #azerbaijan
— News.Az (@news_az) July 21, 2014

Public diplomacy and freedom of speech in Azerbaijan...pending arrest (updated)

09:05: As of early hours of this morning Leyla Yunus husband is in intensive care and Mrs. Yunus was giving statement (questioned) at the prosecutor general office. Yunus was meant to meet with France's president Francoius Hollande on his visit to Azerbaijan on May 17th. She believes this detention is to prevent her from this meeting. Sounds like Emin Milli's arrest when he was meant to translate for the German Ombudsman Gunter Nooke in 2009.

01:37: here is another update in English. No news yet though Yunus herself believes its in close relation to her work in peace diplomacy.

22:55: According to the lawyer Khalid Baghirov (who is also overlooking the case of Mirkadirov) who is currently at the airport he hasn't seen the couple. The lawyer says the law enforcement agents are "conducting" search of their luggage and will then search their apartment.

Which could mean a whole new set of things: like finding books of certain nature for instance like they found in the apartment search of young NIDA activists. There is just no limits to what Azerbaijani government can do. It is as simple as that.

***
If you haven't heard about the case of Rauf Mirkadirov, Azerbaijan journalist based in Turkey, deported and then arrested and charged with espionage then here is an article for you to get the picture. 

Mirkadirov, isn't just a well known journalist writing for many years for the Russian daily Zerkalo. He is also a known name in the circles of people to people diplomacy advocates. 

He is accused of transferring some kind of "secret" information and photographs- in a nutshell, state secrets of some sort- and is currently in a three month pre- trial detenion facing a possible sentence of 10 years. 

Just now [AZ] I am reading that another well known human rights advocate Leyla Yunus is detained together with her husband Arif Yunus as the couple was leaving the country for Doha. While according to the news several foreign diplomats were able to get the couple through the customs, they were stopped from boarding the plane. 

The couple is also outspoken on the public diplomacy and has taken part in many meetings. The nature of these recent arrests is troublesome as this could mean a number of things starting from a new type of measure of Azerbaijan government to silence its critics but also show its disinterest in the dialogue with its neighbor Armenia. Surely this could mean other things but the bottom line is clear- Azerbaijani authorities relentlessly punishing free voices. Already there are several journalists, advocates, political figures and bloggers in jail not to mention 8 young men who have voiced their concerns about the political and social situation in the country and are now facing trumped up charges. 

So do all those apologists of Azerbaijani government still consider it a democracy? They probably do, no doubt but many others who see the real situation should raise their voices and concerns! This is not an acceptable!

Spring clean up in Azerbaijan- just in time for Novruz

Just in time- as Azerbaijani people get closer to celebrating Novruz- a traditional holiday welcoming spring- Azerbaijani government gives them a very nice spring present as part of the spring clean up. Instead of cleaning up the mess of corruption and their own wrong doings, they are after something else. On March 17th, the Sheki District Court sentenced Ilgar Mammadov and Tofig Yagublu to 7 and 5.6 years respectively. The two were arrested in February of 2013 during their visit to Ismayili, a region in northern Azerbaijan where people embraced 2013 with taking the streets and voicing their frustration with the social injustice and power abuse.

Ilgar Mammadov is the Chairman of the Republican Alternative Political Movement. He was meant to run in October 2013 Presidential Elections but due to his arrest was unable to. 

Tofig Yagubli is a journalist with the local opposition paper Yeni Musavat and deputy chairman of the opposition Musavat Party. The two were arrested on charges of inciting violence. Unlike the court and the authorities, Yagublu and Mammadov claim their visit had no such intention. According to a statement by the Institute of Reporters' Freedom and Safety, Mammadov and Yagublu went to Ismayilli to get first hand information of what was going on. 

If it is still not clear, let me chime in, the authorities were looking for an excuse to get the two arrested, perhaps they even developed a plan, but failed at implementing the original plan, when a new opportunity came knocking on their door. Aha! they said, how convenient, lets just arrest them when the two get to Ismayilli- there will be plenty of things then we could use against them. 

So here you have it- two more people in jail for what?! Isn't it clear that the only body responsible for inciting violence is the government itself?! How long and how many more arrests, detentions, and deaths, it is going to take for the international organisations like the Council of Europe to recognize that Azerbaijani government is is nothing short of an authoritarian state and that measures must be taken against? I guess not for a while... At least not as long as we have the oil, the gas, and of course, the caviar...

Defamation against one evil cat- the Internet

Turns out, there exists one very evil cat- the Internet. And its punishment is a new priority for Azerbaijani authorities. According [AZ] to the Director of social- political committee Ali Hasanov "Up until now, Internet has been like a homeless cat, overstepping every boundary, trespassing and no one could face it? Why?!"

"How is it possible that a journalist writing for a paper with a readership of some 10,000 people [probably referring to opposition papers, though I am pretty sure most of our pro- state papers don't have more readership either] is responsible for an article he/she writes but nobody is responsible for the information read on the Internet by 3million or 10million people. This cannot be possible, this is really "lawlesness" ["bespredel"]". 

Interesting- I wonder if Ali Hasanov intends to monitor and control most if not all of the cyberspace. Who knows?! What we do know is Azerbaijan's current population stands at approximately 9.4million. The total percentage of those even with an access varies depending on which source you look at- state vs. independent. The State Fund for the Development of IT under the Ministry of Communication and Information Technologies (MCIT) reports 48% of computer use and 65% of Internet use in the country in 2011. Now these are pretty high indicators when compared to the data provided by the Caucasus Research Resource Center's (CRRC) Caucasus Barometer. In their calculations, the center reports the following (for the year of 2012):

• - 59% of Azerbaijanis never used Internet;
• - 12% of Azerbaijanis didn't know what Internet was [as a result of lack of education and information there are few directions in the understanding of what Internet is, ranging from open access to online port and unethical behavior to unnecessary tool, to the evil of all evils and etc.- I should mention that the "innovative" understanding of Internet becomes worse in regions of the country];
• - 19% of Azerbaijanis used Internet once a week or more;
• - 7% of Azerbaijanis used Internet once a month or less;

Now back to Mr. Hasanov. So if we take these statistics into account, either Mr. Hasanov thinks Azerbaijan has bigger population, or knows something what we don't know at all. Which would explain the sudden and wide gap between the 3million and 10million people reference. And well, the access to and use of Internet is a whole different thing. Oh and then there is the gender factor- majority of Internet users in Azerbaijan are men. It is considered an act of shame to walk into an Internet cafe somewhere in a village as a girl- who will marry her then?! Because that is a bigger and more important question...

So, beware the dangerous, bad cat, Ali Hasanov is after you!

To read more about the Defamation Law, visit here.

 

More members of N!DA arrested today

Two more members of N!DA Civic Movement were arrested today. Rashadat Akhundov and Uzeyir Mammedli were accused under article 228.3 of the Criminal Code for firearm violations. They too like other previously arrested members of the movement are facing between 5 to 8 years of imprisonment. 

For more updates follow here and here.

Different perspectives

A look from the OSCE's Ambassador office and the streets of Baku. Indeed as you rightly put Ambassador Targay there are "good results at the police forces and in rapid deployment forces". They are getting better and better with each protest.

Ruslan Asad and Rashad Hasanov interrogated today

UPDATED (March 15):
According to Rashad Hasanov's lawyer, Asabali Mustafayev, Rashad is facing a possible 8 years of imprisonment if found guilty on charges of illegal weapons possession. In addition according to Khadija Ismayil, from Baku, Hasanov is refused his right to see a lawyer. Supporters are afraid he might be tortured and forced to publicly accept his "crime" as it was the case with previous three N!DA members.

UPDATED:
Ruslan Asad was just released. He was questioned by the prosecutor. It is likely that he will be summoned again for more questioning tomorrow. He was not mistreated. This interrogation shouldn't have been surprising, following a notoriously misleading piece written by once-upon-time prisoner of conscience, journalist Eynulla Fatullayev about NDI's alleged two million dollar financial support to organize a "Facebook Revolution" in Azerbaijan [rus]. Perhaps, we should thank Mr. Fatullayev for today's interrogation phase of Ruslan Asad and Rashad Hasanov and other NIDA members who are now accused of many grave crimes they didn't commit. As for NDI, every cent counts (as it rightly should) and holding an institution like NDI accountable of investing USD2million in a Facebook Revolution is simply outlandish. Perhaps this piece [az] by another blogger Ali Novruzov will bring further explanation to this.

There are still no news re. Rashad Hasanov.

***
Rashad Hasanov, member of NIDA movement and Ruslan Asad, NDI employee were arrested today by plain clothes policemen. Hasanov was taken earlier today, while Asad was detained around 5pm Baku time. Hasanov while being questioned by the Grave Crime Investigation Unit, Asadov's whereabouts are not known.

In addition, arrested leader of ReAl movement, Ilgar Mammadov's sentence was extended to addition two months.

There are rumors that OSCE might close its representative office.

***
There is information to Ruslan's present employer NDI (National Democratic Institute) and his status with the institution. According to some sources, Ruslan was fired from his job shortly after his detention on March 10th protests organized in Baku (to protest deaths of conscripts). Others (including NDI staff) claim he wasn't fired. Whether he was fired or not, that is not important at the moment. Whats more important is that this young man, open minded, well educated, outspoken and intelligent was taken by two men (who presented themselves as employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs) around 5pm today in bright day light near the building where NDI office is located. He was put in a car (Toyota) and taken away. Another reality of all this is that no one knows where he is. And that also another activist was arrested too. So my message to all those arguing over Ruslan's current status with NDI is to stop doing that and instead focus on gathering information and sharing it. 

January 12th Protest, Baku, and some rhymes

Last night, as I sat down to read up on the news and tweets from yesterday's protest in Baku, I thought of writing this. Seeing police officers carry peaceful protesters in their arms (literally); blood trickling down from a young man's face brutally treated by the police and those mothers and fathers, holding pictures of their dead sons. Mourning for their children who will never come back, demand justice  and yet our police, cared little of that.

Its not much- few sentences put together and a bit of rhyming.

 

They take, we sit in silence not saying much

They steal, we keep on sitting,  not caring much

They lie, we grow accustomed to things as such

And so we live, in silence, quiet, unattached

Pretending things are well as we detach

Ourselves, our families, and friends

From the reality and finally lost touch

With what is known as freedom and equal rights

But wait, am I asking already for too much?

No! Not much! Its time to act!

To get whats ours, and that's a fact!

No time to sit in silence and not say much

No time to care little or not as much

We can't afford to let ourselves detach

Together, as one voice we must react!

Hunger Games and Aliyev Regime

Source: Google Images

What does one of the recent bestseller trilogies and Azerbaijan's well known human rights tyrant Aliyev have in common? Well, don't you think it's already obvious by the first sentence of this post? If not then let me draw some parallels here so as not to leave anyone in the dark...
 

For those of you who have already read the books would know what I mean if I say- Capitol, Panem, President Snow and districts. For those who haven't read the book here is a short scoop- Capitol is the "capital" of what was once upon a time somewhere in North America. "Panem" is the nation that lives in the Capitol and other districts. And President Snow is the tyrant/dictator ruling the whole of Panem. Now without spoiling the book or the story let me go back to the connection. 

As you already guessed- President Snow is no other but Ilham Aliyev. Capitol and Panem- well that's easy to figure out. And just like in Capitol where people live lavish life styles (not all but enough, where life moves at its paste, where buildings are high and sky is the limit) Baku fits the description just fine. But what is really extraordinary (I gotta' tip my hat off to the author) is the similarity of the ways in which President Snow and President Aliyev especially when it came to punishing, humiliating and what is more alarming- killing the dissidents and those who protested the system operated- cold blooded, threatening and uncanny. 

And of course, the "Hunger Games" are daily challenges Azerbaijani people have to face- dealing with violence (especially during rallies), being beaten up by the police (instead of tributes, though in our case, we might as well call our police forces some kind of special tributes, like the challenges and mayhem that would be introduced during the games by those who run the games from their computers). Of course there is less blood (at least visible one, though if we look at most recent cases of journalists and human rights advocates being beaten this might no longer be the case) and murder but overall, the parallel is there. In fact, they way individual districts are described (coal, miners, agriculture, iron and etc.) fits our regional districts, starving people (more or less as salaries are low and prices are high, agitated and strict police reporting to the capital and doing whatever it basically wants, should I go on? No, I think I will stop here for now... 

Now, the only thing missing in this parallel is the hero of the book, or the heroes of the book- the Mockingjay, Gale, Peeta and others. Unfortunately there ain't no Mockingjay in Azerbaijan but maybe one day we'll have one too- come out of its ashes, "the bird who was on fire". Who knows... For now however, we'll just have to do with what we have- President Snow/Aliyev, Capitol/Baku, Panem/Azerbaijanis. 

 

'Running scared: Azerbaijan's Silenced Voices'

This is one of the most recent reports about Azerbaijan and post- Eurovision situation with human rights, freedom of press, journalists and more.

To read this report in Azerbaijani click here.

Running Scared: Azerbaijan's Silenced Voices

April 30th- we remember the tragedy at the State Oil Academy

Today while remembering what happened on April 30th, exactly three years ago,  I recollect my memories of that day, trying to once again understand the logic, the incentive and the sickening state of mind of the person who committed that terrible crime. His name was Ferda Gadirov, a Georgian national who entered the school that day with a fully loaded gun and started shooting. It didn't matter at whom, he was just shooting. At the end he shot himself as well. According to official numbers 12 people lost their lives while 13 received wounds of different degrees. Some say there were more but where to find that information and how to confirm it...

An article shared today by Radio Liberty Azerbaijani service, shares few videos from that day and commemoration a year later [AZ]. Once again the face of our state police- the little humanity they have in them shows itself all over- dispersing the crowd of young people from gathering in front of the academy, shouting at them, not letting them place carnations on the stairs of the academy. Seeing them I cannot help but wonder, what if one of those students was his son or daughter or maybe a relative- a nephew, a niece? Would it be that easy if that was the case? Or are they so brutal that even something like that would have made no difference? Who knows...

And then another article published by another online news outlet talks about how the president of Azerbaijan paid families of those who were killed a sum of 30.000AZN and to families of those injured 15.000AZN. Some of you might think this was a sign of sympathy, or generosity but it wasn't. A true act of sympathy would have been to let people live their pain, organize a commemoration for all those innocent lives, to allow for people to gather. Instead, any act of remembrance was prevented, because there was a much more important event to be held, 10 days later, it was the notorious Flower Day celebration organized to celebrate the birthday of Azerbaijan's late president Heydar Aliyev. No one cared about lives lost only 10 days prior. A celebratory concert was organized to praise the president and his achievements. You know how much Azerbaijani government spent to hold this celebration? Millions (a debated number for 2009 was around 20 million). Because its more important than lives or ordinary citizens.

If its all about remembering and commemorating (in fashion) that it should be done equally but equality is a loose term for many of Azerbaijani officials meaning little especially when it comes to ordinary citizens of this country.

As to many of us who do remember today and to all those lives lost on April 30th, I can only express my deepest condolences and add, rest in peace young men and women of the State Oil Academy...

No comment...

One question: if everything was great in Azerbaijan as certain people say it is, then why people would shout "Resignation" and protest?

Certainly, the vide below only justifies oppressive Azerbaijan regime and Azerbaijani police that acts on orders of the authorities.

One answer: nothing is great in Azerbaijan.