A Baku court on Tuesday rejected an Azerbaijani human rights activist’s appeal to serve out his pre-trial detention at home.
Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, a prominent human rights defender, was arrested on December 9 and is being detained for 50 days until he faces trial on charges of “hooliganism” and “disrespect for court.”
Hajiyev has denied the allegations, saying he is being persecuted for his political activities, including criticism of the government in international forums. His arrest follows his participation in a civil society assembly in Prague earlier this month, where his mistreatment by Azerbaijani authorities was discussed publicly.
Activist criticized treatment
In September, he traveled to Warsaw to attend a conference of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, where he publicly criticized the human rights situation in Azerbaijan.
According to Hajiyev's lawyer, Shahla Humbatova, the court did not take her client’s deteriorating health into account when considering his appeal for house arrest. Hajiyev is on hunger strike, which, she added, he's facing psychological pressure to end.
“Bakhtiyar Hajiyev himself spoke in court, saying that his health is not good, it is deteriorating due to the hunger strike," Humbatova told journalists gathered in front of the court. "He also said that there was some psychological pressure on him in the detention center. The court did not consider any of this."
Prison officials, however, told VOA that Hajiyev is no longer on hunger strike.
"He was on hunger strike for one day, he then ended it on December 18. There is no moral-psychological torture against Bakhtiyar Hajiyev," said Mehman Sadigov, head of the Public Relations Department of the Penitentiary Service.
International calls for release
Hajiyev, a 2009 graduate of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, was previously arrested and sentenced to two years of prison in 2011 for evading the country’s mandatory military service, which supporters considered retaliation for his political activities. He was released early in 2012, just days before then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Azerbaijan.
State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel on December 9 echoed international calls for Hajiyev's release.
“We are deeply troubled by the arrest and detention of Mr. Hajiyev on the eve of Human Rights Day, and we urge the authorities to release him expeditiously," Patel said at his December 9 briefing. "The U.S. remains strongly committed to advancing respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and we again urge the government to respect their citizens’ rights, including their right to express their views peacefully.”
“The E.U. calls on Azerbaijani authorities to ensure a transparent and impartial investigation of his case,” EU foreign affairs spokesperson Peter Stano wrote on Twitter.
Marc Behrendt, director for Europe and Eurasia programs at Washington-based Freedom House, called Hajiyev’s pretrial detention unjustified.
“This is similar to situations that have been taking place for a long time in Azerbaijan, where government critics, where the journalists or politicians … find themselves unfairly prosecuted by the government," Behrendt told VOA. "I don't think that there's any real reason to believe that he's guilty of any of these allegations.”
Some human rights defenders in Azerbaijan complain about lack of reaction from the international community.
“This man has been on hunger strike for six days. It seems that Ilham Aliyev and Vilayat Eyvazov [Minister of Internal Affairs] want Bakhtiyar to die here," said Rufat Safarov, co-founder of Defense Line human rights organization while addressing reporters outside of the court on Tuesday.
"I don't understand. Will the embassies react after Bakhtiyar's death? We have not seen any serious international reaction to his arrest for six days. We are left helpless. They are destroying us one by one."
Azerbaijan is among 56 countries included in Freedom House's "Freedom in the World" report in the "non-free" category. Azerbaijan, along with 15 other countries, had the worst score in the category of political rights and civil liberties.
This story originated in VOA's Azeri Service
