EIN briefing focuses on the persecution of human rights defenders and politicians in Azerbaijan and Turkey
/EIN held its latest civil society briefing on 18th August 2020. Due to the Covid-19 crisis, the event was held online, with the participation of over 35 representatives from various Council of Europe Member States.
In view of the forthcoming Committee of Ministers Human Rights meetings, the briefing focused on important cases related to the persecution of human rights defenders and politicians in Azerbaijan and Turkey: Kavala v Turkey and Ilgar Mammadov v Azerbaijan.
The main recommendations by Human Rights Watch on the Kavala case, and by EHRAC on the Ilgar Mammadov group of cases can be found here.
Kavala v Turkey (Application Nr 28749/18)
Osman Kavala is a Turkish philanthropist and human rights defender who has contributed to the establishment of numerous NGOs in Turkey since the 1990s. These organisations currently operate in human rights, cultural and social studies, historical reconciliation and environmental protection.
Osman Kavala was arrested on 18 October 2017, accused of attempting to overthrow the government within the context of investigations into the Gezi events of 2013 (Article 312 of the Criminal Code) and to overthrow the constitutional order within the context of the attempted coup in July 2016 (Article 309) and has been continuously detained since then, currently under a detention order based on accusations of committing “political or military espionage” under Article 328 of the Criminal Code.
The video by Emma Sinclair-Webb, Human Rights Watch, who briefed the delegates about the Kavala case is available under this link.
Other relevant documents:
Ilgar Mammadov v Azerbaijan (Application Nr 15172/13)
Ilgar Mammadov is an Azerbaijani blogger, activist and political figure. After announcing his intention to run for President in 2013, Mr Mammadov was detained and prosecuted in order to silence him. Mr Mammadov won a series of cases at the European Court of Human Rights and was released in August 2018. On 23 April 2020, he, and the human rights defender Rasul Jafarov, were granted full acquittal by Azerbaijan’s Supreme Court.
Despite the steps forward in these two cases, the general situation for civil society in Azerbaijan remains very poor. It is extremely difficult or impossible for civil society organisations to operate in the country, whilst individuals are routinely targeted by the authorities in order to silence them. In his presentation, Professor Philip Leach, from EHRAC, therefore insisted on the need to create an adequate legal environment for civil society organisations to exist and work in Azerbaijan.
He also higlighted the necessaity to push for the acquittal, just satisfaction and other individual measures in other Article 18 cases of political persecution, including those of journalist Khadija Ismayilova, elections monitor Anar Mammaldi, human rights defender Intigam Aliyev, and activists from the N!DA group.
You can find the video by Professor Philip on this case here.
Other relevant documents:
Joint EHRAC-Amnesty International Rule 9(2) submission on the Mammadov group, April 2020.
EHRAC latest Rule 9(1) in the case of Aliyev v Azerbaijan (68762/14), part of the Mammadov group.