Azerbaijan: Crackdown on Free Expression Escalates

July 23, 2024 – We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, strongly condemn the ongoing crackdown against civil society in Azerbaijan that has targeted a broad range of individuals, including human rights activists, journalists, political opposition members, and leaders of nongovernmental organizations. In particular, we call for the immediate and unconditional release of Dr. Gubad Ibadoghlu, who was violently and wrongfully arrested a year ago today.

Dr. Ibadoghlu is a well-known academic and anti-corruption expert who has taught and conducted research on public finance management and good governance, most recently at the London School of Economics. He also has served as chairman of the Azerbaijan Democracy and Prosperity Movement, an organization he has unsuccessfully tried to register as a political party since 2021. Previously, Dr. Ibadoghlu had led the Economic Research Center, an Azerbaijani nongovernmental organization working on anti-corruption and budget transparency issues until the government effectively closed it in 2014. Shortly afterward, Dr. Ibadoghlu began living in exile. He had returned to Azerbaijan in July 2023 to visit his family.

On 23 July, about 20 Azerbaijani police in civilian clothes violently arrested Dr. Ibadoghlu and his wife, Irada Bayramova, after cars without official markings rammed their vehicle, manufacturing a traffic accident. Police assaulted the couple during the arrest. Bayramova was released after several hours, but the authorities brought charges against Dr. Ibadoghlu based on blatantly fabricated offences related to counterfeit currency and to extremist religious materials.

Despite numerous appeals, Dr. Ibadoghlu spent nine months in a pre-trial detention facility before being transferred to house arrest, where he remains. During his detention, Dr. Ibadoghlu’s chronic health conditions deteriorated sharply as a result of the authorities’ refusal to provide him with adequate medical treatment. If convicted, he could face up to 17 years in prison.

Azerbaijani human rights groups estimate that hundreds of people are behind bars in Azerbaijan on politically motivated charges, at least several of whom are known to be in poor health. Azerbaijan has refused to heed numerous calls by human rights organizations and its bilateral and multilateral partners to release everyone who is unjustly imprisoned and to end the crackdown against government critics.

In an April 2024 urgent resolution, the European Parliament called on Azerbaijan to release all political prisoners and noted a number of measures that European authorities could consider if Azerbaijan failed to do so, including suspending the European Commission’s strategic energy partnership with Azerbaijan and imposing targeted sanctions on Azerbaijani officials.

The European Union’s other institutions and its member states, other key international actors and organizations, such as the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, as well as companies with business interests in Azerbaijan, should support and join in making these calls, to help ensure that the Azerbaijani authorities follow through on them as a matter of priority.

Azerbaijan is under a global spotlight this year, as host to the United Nations climate conference (COP29), to be held in Baku in November. In the lead-up to COP29, United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) member states should press Azerbaijan’s government, publicly and privately, to respect its human rights obligations, including by immediately and unconditionally releasing arbitrarily detained activists and human rights defenders. These countries should recommend concrete, structural reforms to ensure that positive changes endure beyond COP29.

Given the dire human rights situation in Azerbaijan, the UNFCCC Secretariat should work with the government of Azerbaijan to provide space for diverse civil society participation in the climate conference, including by individuals and groups critical of the government. Robust and rights-respecting climate action requires the full and meaningful participation of civil society in climate negotiations, including the outcome of COP29.

We urge the government of Azerbaijan to uphold the commitments it has as a member of numerous multilateral organizations and initiatives that have human rights elements, and the obligations it has as a party to key international human rights treaties, by taking the following steps:

• Drop all charges against Dr. Ibadoghlu and against other human rights defenders, journalists, and civil society activists which have no credible foundation and were brought as retaliation for their legitimate work, protected by international human rights norms;

• Release all individuals wrongfully held on spurious grounds, immediately and unconditionally;

• Allow Dr. Ibadoghlu to travel abroad, unhindered and to the country of his choice, to reunite with his family, and to receive the medical care he urgently needs;

• Cease the use of criminal prosecution as a tool to suppress government critics and members of civil society;

• Lift restrictions on civil society by amending laws related to registration of nongovernmental groups and media in accordance with international standards.

Signatories (the statement remains open to additional signatories)

Organizations
Amnesty International
Crude Accountability
Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation
Freedom Now
Human Rights Foundation
Human Rights Watch
International Partnership for Human Rights
Natural Resource Governance Institute
Norwegian Helsinki Committee
Publish What You Pay
Redress
The Secretariat of the Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum
Transparency International

Individuals
Charles M. Becker, Associate Chair, Economics Department, Duke University
Tomila Lankina, Professor, International Relations Department, London School of Economics
Arien Mack, Professor of Psychology, New School University; Editor of Social Research
Simon Taylor, Director, Hawkmoth; Co-Founder and Board member, Global Witness
Marcel Thum, Professor of Economics, Technische Universität Dresden