UK Foreign Office has made a statement on sentencing of Intigam Aliyev in Azerbaijan. The Foreign Office spokesperson said:
“The United Kingdom is dismayed by the sentencing of Intigam Aliyev to seven and a half years, following questionable allegations of tax evasion, illegal business activity and abuse of authority.
Mr Aliyev is an internationally respected human rights lawyer. As one of the first Azerbaijani lawyers to bring cases to the European Court of Human Rights and, until his arrest, coordinator of the Council of Europe’s legal training programme he made an important contribution to the legal system in Azerbaijan. Mr Aliyev joins a worryingly long list of human rights defenders sentenced to lengthy prison sentences.
The United Kingdom is troubled by a number of aspects of the conduct of the trial which reinforce the impression that the verdict was politically motivated. We again call on Azerbaijan to abide by its international commitments and address concerns felt by many about its treatment of civil society”. -02D-
Politics
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On November 14, the House of Commons of the UK Parliament held a hearing on "Academic Freedom and Corruption in Azerbaijan's Energy Sector," focusing on the issue of political prisoners in Azerbaijan. The event, organized in collaboration with Global Witness and the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign, was moderated by Joe Powell, head of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Anti-Corruption.
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Head of the External Relations and Security Service of the EU Josep Borrel rejected the accusations against him and European countries made by the head of Azerbaijan at the COP29 conference the previous day.
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On Thursday, President Ilham Aliyev received the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset, who arrived to participate in the COP29 climate conference.
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The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) today issued five rulings on applications from Azerbaijan. The case of "Afgan Mammadov v. Azerbaijan" concerned the complainant's exclusion from the Bar Association. Mammadov was expelled based on a complaint filed by a colleague, which he considered unjust. The ECHR ruled that Mammadov's rights had been violated and ordered Azerbaijan to pay him €5,000 in compensation for moral damage and €1,000 to cover legal costs.
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