Statement of human rights activist Intiqam Aliyev, arrested in Baku

This statement was drafted and distributed by the lawyer Anar Qasimli after a meeting with Intiqam Aliyev in the pretrial detention center in Baku on August 9.

"The human rights activist Intiqam Aliyev does not recognize the guilt of any charges brought against him. According to him, none of the points of the accusation have a legal basis, and all of them are politically motivated.

Thus, the detention of Intiqam Aliyev is connected to his human rights activities and was done on a political order with the aim to silence him.

Intiquam Aliyev has submitted to the European Court of Human Rights several complaints about human rights violations in Azerbaijan, as well as more than 40 complaints on violations during the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan in 2010. At the moment the European Court communicates on these matters with the Azerbaijani government.

Thus, the detention of Mr. Aliyev aims to prevent the consideration of cases involving violations of electoral rights on complaints against Azerbaijan in the European Court of Human Rights.

It is not an occasion that during the search in the office of the Legal Education Society, headed by Intiqam Aliyev, all documents were taken away, including the lawyers' files relating to cases of violation of electoral rights, though these documents are irrelevant to the charges against Aliyev. In fact, it means that physically isolating Intiqam Aliyev from the Azerbaijani society, the investigation also prevents his communications with the Court in these cases. On the other hand, taking these cases, the investigators impede the communication process on complaints also for other members of the Legal Education Society, as well as their clients.

According to the Rules of the European Court of Human Rights, in such cases the consideration of the complaints may be stopped on the grounds that the applicant has lost interest in his complaint. It should be noted that the complaints filed by Intiquam Aliyev to the European Court of Human Rights report abuse not only of voting rights, but also concern many violations of property rights, freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and other strategically important cases. All documents in these cases have been illegally seized by the investigating authorities.

In addition, it should be noted that to date, most of the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights against Azerbaijan were taken on complaints prepared by Intiquam Aliyev or having him as the legal representative of the applicants.

All this suggests that the main purpose of Aliyeu's detention is to put obstacles to the European Court of Human Rights in taking decision against Azerbaijan on the complaints filed by him, especially those concerning violations of electoral rights during the parliamentary elections in the country in 2010. In other words, the main motive of the detention of Intiqam Aliyev is his advocacy for cases referred to the Court.

Another reason for the detention could be his human rights report read at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe last month. In this report Intiqam Aliyev harshly criticized the policy of the Azerbaijani authorities in the human rights situation in the country and spoke about the problem of political prisoners, the pressure on independent NGOs, arrests on trumped-up cases against those who criticize the government's actions, massive violation of property rights, etc. In this aspect the detention of Aliyev is a violation of his right to freedom of expression.

Human rights activist Intiqam Aliyev believes his detention is part of the general policy aimed at silencing independent NGOs and making their work impossible. It is no coincidence that in recent months, several other human rights activists have been arrested on similar charges. Bank accounts of independent NGOs, including the Legal Education Society, have been frozen, there were created artificial obstacles to registration of grant projects. In this sense, the detention of Aliyev is also a violation of freedom of association."

Bear in mind that on August 8 Intiqam Aliyev was arrested for three months in Baku on charges, which were earlier presented to other human rights defenders: tax evasion (Article 213.1 of the Criminal Code), power abuse (Article 308.2) and illegal business activities (Article 192.2).