Yunus: absence of independent courts gave rise to problem of political prisoners in Azerbaijan

One of the main reasons of the problem of political prisoners in Azerbaijan is the absence of independent judicial power. This was stated at a press conference on Monday, May 3, by Leila Yunus, Director of the Institute of Peace and Democracy (IPD).

According to her story, the registry of the Federation of Human Rights Organizations of Azerbaijan (FHROA) says that today the country has 57 political prisoners.

"Political repressions and politically motivated citizens' convictions are aimed towards intimidation and suppression of opponents and preservation of power," Ms Yunus has noted. She has emphasized that the wave of repressions is stronger in the years of elections.

"While in 1995 they arrested members of armed formations accused of a coup d'etat attempt, in 2000 they arrested persons who had nothing to do with such formations," she said.

According to her version the presidential election of 2003 resulted in conviction to various terms of 87 leaders and activists of the opposition. The parliamentary elections of 2005 were also accompanied by criminal cases on charges of a putsch attempt. In particular, a youth activist Ruslan Bashirli, a number of ministers and other high-ranking officials were arrested. "At presidential election of 2008, although there were no arrests of the opposition, but on the eve of it well-known journalists were brought to criminal liability, and the freedom of speech was severely suppressed," the IPD head has emphasized.

Ms Yunus has expressed her fear that the parliamentary elections of 2010 may also be accompanied "by stronger repressions against the opposition and civil society." Thus, on April 12-30, 12 persons were brought to administrative punishments for participation in mass actions; 3 of them were arrested for 10 days each.

She believes that "uncertainty of the ruling circles" in the election year makes the basis for strengthening of repressive measures used by the government. "The authorities are afraid that at fair elections people would not vote for them. Therefore, like under authoritative regimes, they resort to repressions. The instruments of these repressions are the police, the prosecutor's office and the courts," Ms Yunus said. "The absence of the independent judicial power is one of the main sources of political prisoners. Since the courts, ordered by the authorities, convict opponents of the government."

Leila Yunus has called the authorities of Azerbaijan to put an end to politically-motivated persecutions of citizens and release all political prisoners. In her opinion, it is also necessary to announce a broad amnesty covering the articles of political prisoners and those who had escaped punishment for some reasons, first of all, those abroad; for them not to be tried now for the events 10-15 years ago.

In their turn, the authorities of Azerbaijan continue to deny any political prisoners in the country. Thus, according to Aidyn Mirzazade, a member of the Azerbaijani delegation to the PACE and MP from the party in power "Eni Azerbaijan", when Azerbaijan acceded to the Council of Europe (СЕ) "there were some lists, and many persons from them have been released long ago." "Besides, some of them faced repeated trials, he said. "Azerbaijan is under jurisdiction of a European Court of Human Rights, and all those dissatisfied with decisions of local courts are free to complain to the Strasbourg Court."