The following is based on a communication written by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and other UN experts to the Government of Azerbaijan on 28 June 2024. The communication remained confidential for 60 days before being made public, giving the Government time to reply. The Government replied on 14 August 2024.
Since the communication was sent, Mr. Mammadli’s prosecution has continued, and his pre-trial detention has been extended, despite his reportedly deteriorating health.
This is a shorter version of the original communication.
BACKGROUND
Topic: the alleged arbitrary arrest and detention of Anar Mammadli, his alleged prosecution, searches, restricted access to legal assistance and other due process violations, the alleged smear campaign against him, and the alleged lack of an effective remedy and reparations for previous violations of his rights, all reportedly in connection with his legitimate election observation and human rights work and the exercise of his freedom of expression.
Mr. Anar Mammadli is a prominent Azerbaijani human rights defender. He is the chairman of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center (EMDSC), a non-governmental organization that conducts independent election monitoring and promotes civil and political rights in Azerbaijan.
ALLEGATIONS
Alleged lack of effective remedy for previous human rights violations in 2013
Mr. Anar Mammadli was previously prosecuted and imprisoned, allegedly in retaliation for his legitimate work documenting alleged widespread irregularities and human rights violations around the presidential elections of 9 October 2013.
On 16 December 2013, he was arrested and placed in pre-trial detention for a period of three months, which was subsequently extended. On 26 May 2014, the Baku Court of Grave Crimes found Mr. Mammadli guilty under articles 179.3.2 (“high-level embezzlement”), 313 (“forgery in public office”), 192.2.2 (“illegal entrepreneurship”), 213.1 (“large-scale tax evasion”), and 308.2 (“abuse of power”) of the Criminal Code and sentenced him to five and a half years of imprisonment. On 10 December 2014, the Baku Court of Appeal upheld this judgment. It was further upheld on 26 August 2015 by the Supreme Court. Following a presidentially decreed pardon on 17 March 2016, Mr. Mammadli was released from serving the remainder of his sentence.
In its judgement in Mammadli v. Azerbaijan (application no. 47145/14), dated 19 April 2018, the European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR”) held that there have been violations of article 5 para. 1 (“right to liberty and security”), article 5 para. 4 (“right to have lawfulness of detention decided speedily by a court”), and article 18 (“limitation on use of restrictions on rights”) of the European Convention on Human Rights taken in conjunction with article 5. In particular, the ECtHR found that Mr. Mammadli’s arrest and detention had not been to bring him before a competent legal authority on reasonable suspicion of having committed an offence, but to silence and punish him as a civil society activist for his activities in the area of electoral monitoring; that the facts relied on by the prosecuting authorities had not been sufficient to suspect him of having committed the offences with which he had been charged, nor had they provided any other information or evidence which could serve as a basis for the suspicion underpinning his arrest and pre-trial detention; and that the courts had not carried out a proper judicial review of his detention. The ECtHR held that Azerbaijan was to pay Mr. Mammadli, by 19 October 2018, non-pecuniary damages and a compensation of costs and expenses. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, mandated to supervise the execution of the ECtHR judgments, has repeatedly underlined the requirement for restitutio in integrum in the case and stated that this could only be achieved through the quashing of conviction, its erasure from the criminal records, and the elimination of all other consequences of the criminal charges brought against Mr. Mammadli, including by fully restoring his civil and political rights.
However, according to the information received, Mr. Mammadli’s conviction has not been quashed, his civil and political rights have not been restored, and he has not been compensated.
Alleged smear campaign and prosecution in 2024
Under Mr. Anar Mammadli’s leadership, the EMDSC conducted independent observations of the pre-election campaign and presidential elections of 7 February 2024, reporting widespread shortcomings. On 20 February 2024, Mr. Mammadli co-founded the Climate of Justice Initiative, a civil society group aiming to leverage the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 29), scheduled for November 2024 in Baku, to promote civil liberties, public participation, and environmental justice in Azerbaijan. Mr. Anar Mammadli also reportedly spoke about the human rights situation in Azerbaijan at a side event on 15 March 2024 during the UN Human Rights Council session and at a civil society Human Dimension event with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe on 18 March 2024.
Since around 5 February 2024, pro-government media outlets have been targeting Mr. Mammadli and his EMDSC with a smear campaign, accusing them of using foreign funding to undermine the country through election monitoring and human rights work.
On 29 April 2024, Mr. Mammadli was apprehended by police near the entrance of the kindergarten in Baku where he was picking up his child. They allegedly searched his car. Then a group of people in civilian clothes, wearing police uniform jackets, allegedly forced him into a black civilian car. There was no arrest warrant presented, and Mr. Mammadli was told that they had some questions for him concerning a recently arrested person. About an hour later, officers from the Baku City Main Police Department searched his home and his parents’ home, without presenting search warrants. According to the information received, police seized at least three phones, two laptops, several documents, a flash drive, two laptops belonging to Mr. Mammadli’s sister, and bank cards belonging to his father. After the home search police reportedly took Mr. Mammadli to the Baku City Main Police Department.
On 30 April 2024, Mr. Mammadli was charged with smuggling money by a group of persons by prior conspiracy under article 206.3.2 of the Criminal Code. The punishment under this article ranges from five to eight years of imprisonment.
According to the accusations, Mr. Anar Mammadli allegedly engaged in a criminal conspiracy with others to obtain substantial income. From 2021 to 2023, they allegedly secured significant funding from foreign donors and smuggled the currency into Azerbaijan through Heydar Aliyev International Airport without declaring it at customs. Mr. Mammadli denied the accusations.
On 30 April 2024, the Khatai District Court in Baku placed Mr. Mammadli in pre-trial detention for 3 months and 28 days. On 6 May 2024, the Baku Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal against the detention order. On 8 May 2024, the Khatai District Court in Baku rejected the motion to transfer Mr. Mammadli to house arrest or release him on bail. On 15 May 2024, the Baku Court of Appeal reportedly dismissed his appeal against this decision. Mr. Anar Mammadli is being held in Baku Detention Center No. 1.
Mr. Mammadli reportedly has several health conditions: chronic respiratory issues worsening in detention, digestive problems requiring a specific diet that cannot be followed in detention, spinal problems causing severe pain without special bedding, and skin and joint issues that can deteriorate and cause suffocation attacks.
Access to legal assistance
Mr. Mammadli allegedly did not have access to a lawyer from the time of his arrest at around 3 p.m. on 29 April 2024 until about 1 p.m. on 30 April 2024, shortly before his pre-trial detention hearing. As a result, he was interrogated without a lawyer being present. Police also reportedly did not allow his lawyers to be present during the searches of his home, car, and his parents’ home. Additionally, two lawyers Mr. Mammadli who wished to join his defense team were denied permission by the police. One lawyer was subsequently allowed to join his defense team a month later, on 30 May 2024, while the other is allegedly still unable to do so.
The reasons were allegedly as follows:
First, defense lawyers (registered at legal bureaus) can only join the case after presenting an order and contract signed by their bureau. After his arrest, Mr. Mammadli provided the police with the phone number of his lawyer. However, by the time the police called the lawyer, the legal bureau was closed, and the lawyer could not get an order signed until the next day.
Second, the case against Mr. Mammadli was originally part of the Abzas Media case before being separated on 27 April 2024. Azerbaijani lawyers willing to take such cases are allegedly rare and already involved in the Abzas Media case. Law enforcement authorities allegedly prevent them from defending more than one person in a group case, citing potential conflicts of interest. Despite the separation and the lack of conflicts of interest, the police used this connection to deny lawyers’ participation in the searches and to deny two lawyers permission to join the case.
CONCERNS
In the communication, we express our serious concern in response to the arrest and detention of Mr. Anar Mammadli and his prosecution, which appear to be directly linked to his legitimate election observation and human rights work and the exercise of the right to freedom of expression. We are gravely concerned that they might constitute acts of intimidation and reprisals for engaging or attempting to engage with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of human rights.
Further, we are concerned about the chilling effect on freedom of expression, election monitoring and other human rights defenders’ work that Mr. Mahammadli’s prosecution is prone to generate. We are also concerned about the related allegations of searches of Mr. Mammadli’s home and car and his parents’ home, restricted access to legal assistance and other due process violations, and the smear campaign against him.
Finally, we are concerned that he has reportedly not yet received an effective remedy and reparations for the violations of his rights, despite the ECtHR’ final judgment in 2018.
