Human Rights Watch Condemns Verdict on Tofig Yagublu

Baku / 04.09.20 / Turan: The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned the conviction of the Azerbaijani opposition politician Tofig Yagublu.

“An example of yet another bullying of justice in Azerbaijan was the sentence to Tofig Yagublu, one of the few alternative political voices in the country, who received four years and three months in prison on trumped-up charges of 'hooliganism'.

The verdict did not come as a surprise, and demonstrates how much the Azerbaijani authorities are ready to undermine the rule of law and suppress critics of the government,” said Giorgi Gogia, director of the HRW department.

Yagublu, 59, is a member of the opposition Musavat Party and a senior spokesman for the National Council of Democratic Forces, a coalition of opposition parties and activists in Azerbaijan. Former journalist Yagublu has often criticized Azerbaijan's human rights problems.

This is not the first time the authorities have imprisoned Yagublu for political reasons. He spent three years behind bars on false charges of inciting riot, and after his release in 2016, he was arrested again in October 2019 for participating in an unsanctioned rally.

On March 22, a few days after President Ilham Aliyev made it clear that he would use the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic to suppress political opposition, police arrested Yagublu, accusing him of having committed an accident and beating the driver of another car.

Authorities hastily prosecuted Yagublu, rejecting nearly all defense motions, including a request to view CCTV footage that could corroborate Yagublu's account.

“The denunciation of Yagublu was the latest step in the government's ruthless campaign to jail its critics. Over the past few months, authorities have arrested, detained and intimidated dozens of rank-and-file members and high-ranking opposition politicians,” HRW notes. -16D-