Azerbaijan: Continued arrests and allegations of mass torture ahead of COP29

The forms of ill-treatment and torture documented by the committee — slaps, punches, kicks and truncheon or wooden stick blows to the person’s head and/or body — are widespread.

Observations from an arrested journalist

Originally published on Global Voices

Ulvi Hasanli, is a journalist and director of an independent, investigative journalism platform Abzas Media. He was arrested in November 2023 on trumped up charges and is currently behind bars, awaiting trial, along with five of his colleagues — Sevinc, Mahammad, Nargiz, Elnara, and Hafiz — all facing the same smuggling charge. But, just because they are behind bars, they have not stopped their reporting. Since their arrests, while their colleagues from across the world have joined forces to continue investigations, Abzas Media journalists continue to share their observations of poor conditions at the prison they are being held at. On July 31, Abzas Media published a letter from Hasanli, which describes in detail the rampant cases of torture.

Hasanli's observations came following a public statement by the  Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) issued in July 2024. In the statement, the committee notes that, despite its numerous requests addressed to the Ministry of the Interior to address severe acts of ill-treatment and torture the committee has received and to end such practices, no responses were received. “This represents a fundamental and unprecedented breach of the Convention,” noted the committee in its statement.

In total CPT has carried out 13 visits to Azerbaijan since 2002, the most recent ones between 2020 and 2022. “For more than twenty years now, the CPT has consistently expressed its deep concern regarding a number of issues related to the treatment of persons held by law enforcement agencies, in particular those under the Ministry of the Internal Affairs,” read the statement. And yet, despite the country's obligations under the convention no action has been taken to address these issues. Azerbaijan joined the convention in 2002.

In committee's most recent report released in 2022, the anti-torture body noted, “ill-treatment/torture” during apprehension and, subsequently, during initial interviews by operational police officers,” “to force the persons to sign a confession, provide other information or accept additional charges.”

The forms of ill-treatment and torture documented by the committee — slaps, punches, kicks and truncheon or wooden stick blows to the person’s head and/or body — are widespread and there are numerous testimonies from individuals being subject to this kind of treatment during interrogation.

The same applies to other allegations noted by the committee in its report: insertion of a bottle into the rectum and of electric shocks, threats of reprisals against the persons’ relatives, including threats of criminal prosecution.

Torture diary

Ulvi Hasanli's recent story falls squarely atop previous reports of torture and ill-treatment documented in Azerbaijan in which he describes the detention center where he and others are being held, “a torture center.”

“First I would only hear the sound of torture — slap, kick, punch, truncheon blow, insult, swearing. Then, I started witnessing first hand ill-treatment and torture — beating, inmates handcuffed to the cell bars [handcuffed to the top of the cell bar, in the middle, at the very bottom], one hand handcuffed to the top of the bed, the other hand handcuffed to the leg and held like this for twelve hours, beating with truncheon while inmate was handcuffed to the cell bars,” wrote Hasanli, adding other examples of ill-treatment and torture that he has witnessed since November 2023.

There is even a timetable: all of this takes place between 9 and 10 a.m. The prison management argues that those ill-treated and tortured are problematic inmates and that if these kind of measures were not taken it would be hard to maintain order. When inmates object and demand this treatment stop, pointing at the signs on the prison walls that say “no to torture,” the management takes notice, and there is relative calm for a few days then it all begins again wrote Hasanli.

Each time someone protests, the prison management insists that torture, beating, swearing, insults are legitimate. Throughout the hallways of the prison one can see the number of Ombudsman office [916] and the slogan both in Azerbaijan and English, “no to torture.” And yet, torture takes places right under those slogans. Each week, sometimes every day. Sometimes, it is just one person, sometimes 10–15 inmates.

In total Hasanli wrote he has documented 58 cases of torture and ill-treatment in the first six months of 2024. “These were the cases I witnessed myself or was able to count. Now imagine, the extent of torture and ill-treatment in pre-trial detention centers and prisons,” noted Hasanli.

When Hasanli was arrested in November, the journalist was also subject to ill-treatment. He was beaten and there were visible marks on his face.

A recent investigation by Forbidden Stories, a network of journalists that ensures the work of journalists facing threats continues, on torture in Azerbaijani prisons found out that:

…since 2014, over 23 million euros have been transferred from the Council of Europe to finance several development programs in Azerbaijan, according to public documents reviewed by Forbidden Stories. These funds, which originated mostly from the European Union’s budget, were meant to generate “capacity building of the judicial system,” “training for staff,” “increased oversight of prison conditions,” and “action to improve transparency and prevent corruption,” among others.

The investigation also showed that of the 263 protocols in which the European Court of Human Rights, the Council of Europe’s court, found Azerbaijan violated the European Convention of Human Rights, 33 were “breaches including charges of ‘torture’ or ‘inhumane and degrading treatment.’”

In January 2024, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) voted voted not to ratify — with 10 votes supporting ratification and 76 against — the Azerbaijan delegation's credentials at the assembly. The credentials were challenged on the grounds the country failed to meet “major commitments” as part of its membership to the Council of Europe. The same month a separate resolution on “systemic torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in places of detention” voiced concern over “horrendous methods of torture,” specifically in the context of the Terter case — a series of arrests carried out in 2017 targeting civilians and Azerbaijan's military personnel in what the officials in Baku at the time described as “large-scale conspiracy.” In April 2024 the European Parliament adopted an urgent resolution, calling for an “immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners” and for “EU sanctions under its global human rights sanctions regime to be imposed on Azerbaijani officials who have committed serious human rights violations.”

Arrest spree continues

Among those recently arrested are a former diplomat and a researcher of ethnic minorities. Igbal Abilov, the researcher, who grew up in Belarus, arrived in Azerbaijan in June. He was first questioned on June 22 by the State Security Services. A month later, he was arrested and charged with inciting national enmity and treason. On July 31, Abilov was sentenced to four months in pretrial detention. The charges are based on an alleged evidence that was shared by a pro-government newspaper alluding to Abilov working for Armenia's security services.

On June 24, former diplomat, Emin Ibrahimov was arrested and sentenced to four months in pretrial detention for allegedly stabbing a person. Ibrahimov served 30 days in administrative detention in September 2023 on charges of spreading prohibited information. In protest Ibrahimov has gone on hunger strike.

Separately, Azerbaijani authorities have requested the extradition of an Azerbaijani journalist, Afgan Sadigov, from Georgia. Sadigov is being accused of extortion. He was first prevented from leaving Georgia in July. He was then detained on August 3 in Tbilisi, capital of Georgia.

In June, Abzas Media published information on current list of political prisoners which now totals 305 cases together with Ibrahimov and Abilov's arrests. The list includes journalists and bloggers, members of various political and civic movements, human rights defenders, religious activists, and others. The country's leadership and its officials deny there are political prisoners or any forms of crackdown on human rights and freedoms.

Written by Arzu Geybullayeva