Publish What You Pay strongly condemns the beating and inhumane treatment of Ilgar Mammadov, member of the Advisory Council of the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI). Mr Mammadov, who remains unlawfully imprisoned following a decision by the European Court of Human Rights, was allegedly beaten by high-level staff in the penitentiary facility on October 16, following a series of intimidations and threats.
The unacceptable violent treatment of Mr Mammadov is part of a wider context of a complete crackdown on dissenting voices in Azerbaijan by the government. Whether engaged in politics, media or civil society, journalists and activists continue to face restrictions, harsh treatment, criminal prosecutions and prison sentences, which are completely at odds with the spirit and principles of the Open Government Partnership and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in which Azerbaijan participates.
In April 2015, the EITI board made the decision to demote the country from ‘compliant’ to ‘candidate’, giving Azerbaijan until April 2016 to put in place a set of corrective actions as decided by the EITI Board. But despite a recent high level visit by the EITI Chair to the president of Azerbaijan the general crackdown on civil society has continued, including recent developments such as the case of Mammadov and the court sentence of famous anti-corruption investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova earlier this year. We urgently request the Government of Azerbaijan to immediately release Ilgar Mammadov as well as Khadija Ismayilova, and remind them to ensure that they meet the EITI Board’s recommendations by April 2016 if they want to continue to be part of the EITI.
Politics
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On January 23, the Deputy Commander of the Azerbaijani Ground Forces, Ilgar Latifov, met with a Pakistani delegation headed by the Director General of Military Operations, Abdullah Kashif. The parties discussed the state and prospects for the development of military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Pakistan, as well as the importance of increasing the intensity of joint exercises.
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The announcement of 2025 as the "Year of the Constitution and Sovereignty" in Azerbaijan has sparked rumors and speculation about the government's plans to hold a constitutional referendum this year. Today's statement in the Milli Majlis by the head of the parliamentary committee on human rights and concurrently the director of the Center for Humanitarian Studies, Zahid Oruj, confirmed that these expectations are not groundless.
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As part of the peace process with Azerbaijan, Armenia has proposed solutions to all agenda issues, stated Armen Grigoryan, Secretary of Armenia's Security Council, on January 23. "We are not asking for peace, we are offering peaceful solutions to all existing issues. For the two unresolved points, we have sent proposals and are waiting for a response from the Azerbaijani side. We hope that we will find solutions," Grigoryan said, according to Armenian media. Meanwhile, the press service of Azerbaijan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Turan that "negotiations on the text of the peace agreement are ongoing."
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On January 23, Hilal Mammadov, a member of the Board of the Public Council of Talysh of Azerbaijan (OSTA), was interrogated by the State Security Service (SGB) as a witness in the case of researcher Igbal Abilov, who is accused of treason. As reported by Turan, Mammadov was questioned about Abilov's activities, scientific works, and publications.
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