In Azerbaijan, human rights activist complains of customs' lawlessness

In the evening on February 1, Emin Guseinov, a well-known Azerbaijani human rights activist and the head of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS), was exposed to insults and pressure at the customs check point of the Baku Airport. He told the story at a press conference on Thursday, February 3.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports with reference to Guseinov that the latter was detained upon his return from Dubai, where he made a one-day stopover on his way back from a business trip. According to Mr Guseinov, customs officers held him "for several hours without food and water." "There was a big queue; they mainly detained those who brought "Blackberry" phones and extorted a bribe of 75 manats (about 90 US dollars) from each phone," he said.

Emin Guseinov brought with him some technical equipment and indicated it in the declaration. "I brought 2 'Blackberry' mobile phones, 2 TV-sets with LCD screen (32-inch ones), one for myself and one for my friend, and a tape recorder for my car. When leaving Azerbaijan, I took with me two used video cameras in order to select suitable memory cards for them, as well as some 'firmware' (for formatting cameras for different software). The customs officers told me to put these two cameras into the declaration, although they are not new and shouldn't be charged," said the human rights activist.

Mr Guseinov said that 10 customs officers undertook, without witnesses and drawing up a protocol, a full examination of his personal belongings. "And one of them told me, threatening with a knife, 'You speak too much about laws.'," he said.

The human rights activist rejected the proposal of the officers to pay "dues" of 1500 US dollars and asked to draw a protocol with enumeration of all the confiscated equipment and make an independent appraisal. Guseinov said that the total cost of the new equipment was only 1310 dollars; and, under all regulations, the customs dues should maker a small fraction of this sum. However, the customs officers confiscated all his things without providing any document.

Mr Guseinov said that the whole incident was recorded by surveillance cameras of the airport. He is a Category II invalid; however, customs officers forced him to drag his things from place to place; he felt bad and had to address the doctor of the airport.

Emin Guseinov said that he would address the bosses of the State Customs Committee, and if it does not help, he would sue them. He believes that he was exposed to pressure for political reasons because of his human rights activities.

The human rights activist recalled that in 2007 he was several times pressed at the airport by frontier guards. "All the time they took away my passport; and I had to wait a long time until they give it back. Their motive was that some other person with the same surname, name and patronymic was allegedly searched at that time," he said. "And once they intentionally spoilt my passport, when I returned to Baku from a trip abroad. Frontier guards unstuck my Turkish visa and then stuck it back in such a way that the contours of the seal did not match. Apparently they hoped that I would not notice it; and at my next departure from Baku I could be accused of falsifying the document. But I noticed it in time and complained to the police. Of course, no one was punished, but I received a new passport."

Lawyer Elchin Sadygov also believes that customs officers broke the law in relation to Guseinov. According to his story, the officers had no right to search the belongings of the human rights defender in the absence of witnesses. Besides, they had no right to claim dues for already used things, in particular, for the video cameras. "On the other hand, when charging the dues, customs officers must provide specific justification as to the sums," the lawyer said.

It was not possible to get any comments at the State Customs Committee.