Caspian Wire: Rising Arrests, Political Prisoners and Elections | June 2024

Dozens are arrested in the latest wave of crackdown on independent voices 

On June 1st, Khatai District Court sentenced independent economist Farid Mehralizada to 3 months and 20 days of pre-trial detention following his arrest by Baku City Main Police Department on May 29th. The economist is the 8th person recently arrested and accused of smuggling as a group and linked with the ‘Abzas Media case’ whereas the outlet issued a statement denying any involvement. Farid and others – 7 investigative journalists and associates of media outlet – are all accused of smuggling foreign funds into the country who all deny the charges and point to the political motivation behind their arrest. Accordingly, all defendants claim that their arrest is due to their investigative journalism work exposing corruption schemes concerning high-ranking officials. Khatai District Court and Court of Appellate regularly grants the request of investigative authorities to extend the detention on remand and rejects motions of defendants to remain under house arrest despite convincing arguments. The group will collectively remain in pre-trial detention until September 2024, with some members having been detained since their arrest in November 2023. If found guilty, they could face up to 12 years in prison.

The economist’s arrest comes as one of dozens of such cases since November 2023. In the latest and seemingly the biggest wave of crackdown on civil society and free media since 2013-14, authorities have arrested at least 17 people linked to Abzas Media, Toplum TV, Kanal 13, Institute for Democratic Initiatives, Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center, Meclis.info and ‘Third Republic’ political platform. Among them are investigative journalists Ulvi Hasanli and Sevinj Vagifgizi, non-governmental organization leaders Akif Gurbanov, well-known human rights defenders Anar Mammadli, Alasgar Mammadli and others who are all accused of smuggling foreign funds into the country. All 17 people deny the charges, point at the pattern of arrests and charges and consider their arrests as politically motivated punishment to silence their critical human rights and journalism work. Both local and international human rights groups and organizations found the charges as bogus and called for the speedy release of all arrested concerning the case. 

Number of political prisoners reported to be 304 marking historical anti-record

On 14th June, the local human rights group, the Union For Freedom of Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan, released its latest list of political prisoners in Azerbaijan. According to the report, at least 304 people have been imprisoned for political reasons, with 16 new faces added since its last update in March 2023. This marks the first time since the early 2000s that the number has surpassed 300, indicating a worsening human rights situation in Azerbaijan.

A member of the Union underscored the politically motivated nature of these arrests, pointing out that they are often conducted illegally and supported by biased courts that merely rubber-stamp police charges. He criticized the judiciary for ignoring Article 125 of the Constitution, which mandates impartiality and fairness. He highlighted the inconsistency in judicial treatment by comparing the harsh penalties faced by political activists with the leniency shown to serious offenders. “For instance, after a deadly fire at the Republican Maternity Hospital in January 2024, the responsible management was placed under house arrest. In contrast, activists and bloggers critical of the government are imprisoned without such consideration, starkly revealing the biased nature of the judicial system in Azerbaijan.”

Azerbaijan heading to another snap elections while ignoring long-standing calls to reform

On June 28th, the President of Azerbaijan announced another snap parliamentary election to be held on September 1, 2024 following the request of parliament to dissolve itself. The Parliament cited a clash in calendar with upcoming United Nations Climate Conference (COP 29) in November with an open-endedly worded Constitution allowing such discretion. However, opposition and critics point to the long-standing issues in both electoral laws and the repressive political environment awaiting reforms. 

Last snap elections were held on 7th of February 2024, with the President assuming power for the 5th consecutive time since 2003. Opposition boycotted presidential elections citing worsening human rights conditions and lack of political will to amend electoral laws and stop political persecutions. The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and local NGO – Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center (EMDS), which both observed the elections, underscored legislative and practical shortcomings and widespread irregularities noting a failure to implement long standing recommendations from both itself and the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, claiming these issues have seriously undermined electoral integrity. 

This time, the electoral period is unfolding in the light of an even more complex human rights situation. This is not only because no progress has been made since the latest elections to address those recommendations, but instead authorities have imprisoned well-known human rights defender and head of local election observation election organization EMDS – Anar Mammadli in between elections.  Mammadli and dozens of others are accused of smuggling foreign funds into the country while they are denying charges and claim that they are punished for critical media and civil society work. Meanwhile, local human rights groups report a record number of – 304 – people  imprisoned for political reasons.  Furthermore, the domestic court has recently invalidated the congress results of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan, a major opposition party. This action is considered as potentially aimed at discrediting the legitimacy of Chairman Ali Karimli as the party leader, raising doubt on efforts to create artificial barriers to prevent his participation in elections. Consequently, on July 13rd, PFPA issued a statement announcing their boycott of the upcoming early parliamentary elections, citing reasons including the continued detention of over 300 political prisoners, restrictions on the right to assemble freely, complete government control over election commissions, the absence of independent local election monitors, and a lack of press freedom and a competitive electoral environment.