Azerbaijani Doctoral Student Fazil Gasimov Appeals for Justice Amid Torture Allegations

Fazil Gasimov, a doctoral student at Istanbul University, arrested in August 2023 on charges of making counterfeit money, has made another public appeal from an Azerbaijani prison on July 11, alleging torture and political persecution:

As I mentioned in my previous appeals, one of the reasons I was subjected to torture at the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (MDCOC) of Ministry of Internal Affairs is the research I conducted with economist Qubad Ibadoğlu on the Azerbaijani economy. We investigated the business activities of Azerbaijani investors both domestically and abroad, analyzing their investments in various sectors of the economy. This is a standard process based on international economic research practices. However, our research has caused great concern among Azerbaijani officials. This is due to widespread corruption in Azerbaijan, state officials engaging in commercial activities, and competing to amass wealth.

During our investigation into the investments of Azerbaijani investors in the United Kingdom, we found that they had invested over one billion dollars in the London real estate sector. These investments primarily belong to Azerbaijani officials and the businessmen who manage their wealth. After these investigations, it is not surprising that Azerbaijan ranks 150th in the Corruption Perceptions Index published by Transparency International. Notably, in 2020, the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) issued its first Unexplained Wealth Order aimed at preventing the laundering of corrupt funds into the UK economy, targeting assets owned by the former president of the International Bank of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani investors have used companies established in high-secrecy offshore zones to conceal their real estate investments in London. However, leaked documents and changes in UK legislation have revealed the beneficial owners of these companies. Because of our research with Qubad Ibadoğlu, I have been subjected to horrific torture, degrading treatment, threats, and intimidation at the MDCOC. This shows that those who decided to open a politically motivated criminal case against us are protecting the perpetrators of corruption crimes in Azerbaijan. Recall that Alexei Navalny was first poisoned, then imprisoned on false charges, and mysteriously died in prison for investigating corruption. Unlike Alexei Navalny, we conducted our economic research using publicly available databases and media resources and then shared this information with the Azerbaijani public.

The income from Azerbaijani citizens' investments in the UK real estate market is part of Azerbaijan's gross national product. Regardless of the identity of the investors, this information is of interest to Azerbaijani economists. The fact that these investments are made by Azerbaijani officials is of interest primarily to the Azerbaijani people, as corruption is a criminal offense under the Azerbaijani Criminal Code, and it is prohibited for state officials to engage in commercial activities. If economists and journalists who inform the Azerbaijani people about the commercial activities of state officials are prosecuted on false charges, this is primarily a punishment for our people.

We must be resolute and determined to raise ethical standards in managing Azerbaijan's state budget and state companies for the sake of future generations. If Azerbaijani officials consider investments in the economies of the UK, Switzerland, and EU countries important for national interests, they can do so through the State Oil Fund or create a National Wealth Fund like Norway and invest in real estate and other sectors through this fund. In that case, these investments and the income they generate will improve the welfare of our people. Investments made through illicit means do not serve the interests of either the Azerbaijani people or the Azerbaijani state. Subjecting us to political persecution and degrading treatment, intimidating us, and falsifying evidence with psychotropic substances will only increase the likelihood of these investments being confiscated. We have proposed that confiscated assets be donated to AYEF to provide educational opportunities for Azerbaijani youth abroad.

Directing confiscated suspicious assets belonging to Azerbaijanis to the education of Azerbaijani youth in the UK will contribute to the development of a democratic environment in Azerbaijan. Corruption fosters anti-democratic and authoritarian regimes in Azerbaijan. A smooth transition to democracy in Azerbaijan requires combating corruption internationally and creating educational opportunities for Azerbaijani youth in democratic countries. If democratic countries sincerely desire Azerbaijan to become a democratic nation, they should not allow the investment of funds obtained through corruption by Azerbaijani officials in democratic countries and should assist in realizing the AYEF project.

For 27 days now, I have been on hunger strike in protest against the false accusations and gross human rights violations I have suffered. My family insists that I end the hunger strike. However, if I stop the hunger strike in prison, I could be poisoned or even killed by adding psychotropic substances to my tea or food. On October 4, 2023, under the influence of psychotropic substances added to my tea at the MDCOC, I was forced to write a false statement under threat, and on October 6, during a confrontation with Qubad Ibadoğlu, I was forced to confirm the false statement using the same method. In this illegal process, my former lawyer/defender Anar Gasimov collaborated with the investigator and participated in falsifying the evidence. According to Article 294.2 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan, falsifying evidence by an investigator, prosecutor, or defense lawyer in a criminal case is a criminal offense. Despite detailing all this in my letters to the Prosecutor General and the Ombudsman of the Republic of Azerbaijan after being freed from the effects of psychotropic substances, no action has been taken to replace or punish the investigator. Additionally, Yusif Yusifov, who falsified the evidence, is not facilitating our requests for re-interrogation and confrontation. The protest against the investigator submitted by my lawyers to the Prosecutor General's Office is also ignored. My experienced lawyer in political cases is even denied permission to meet with me at the MDCOC. This treatment would not be given even to prisoners of war. Moreover, according to Article 92.9.1 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan, a defender (lawyer) has the right to meet with their client without restriction on the number and duration of meetings, in private, and to communicate confidentially. Note that the room for meetings with lawyers is bugged, so confidentiality is out of the question.

Reading these lines, our compatriots cannot help but worry about the lives of their relatives living in Azerbaijan. Where the rule of law does not exist, no one is safe. It is like living defenselessly in a wilderness where the law of the jungle prevails. The Azerbaijani people, who established the first democratic republic in the East, are, unfortunately, deprived of fundamental rights and freedoms a century later. The investigator of the MDCOC has falsified evidence in the criminal case against us through illegal means. The Prosecutor General of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and even the UN Secretary-General and the US Secretary of State have been informed about this. However, the investigator is not replaced, nor is the criminal case dismissed.

For millennia, our ancestors have said that prosperity cannot be achieved through oppression. Nevertheless, at the MDCOC, located near the diplomatic missions of democratic countries in Baku, citizens are subjected to horrific torture, psychotropic substances are added to their tea and food, and evidence is falsified. If the Azerbaijani government does not stop these repressions, unfortunately, our country will face international sanctions. To see the risks this path poses for our country and people and to propose measures to prevent them, to treat us as enemies, defame us, prosecute us on false charges, and torment our families is a true act of injustice. We do not love Azerbaijan any less than those who decided to open a fabricated, politically motivated criminal case against us. We have not committed corruption crimes like them. We do not want our country to become a geopolitical battleground or face international sanctions. We are not obsessed with wealth or position. For both Qubad Ibadoğlu and me, teaching is the most honorable profession. We are determined to ensure democratic reforms in Azerbaijan, uphold the rule of law, combat corruption, create equal educational opportunities, and establish social and economic freedoms for the safety and welfare of our people.

The research I conducted with Qubad Ibadoğlu is crucial for democratic reforms in Azerbaijan because democratic reforms begin with the fight against corruption. By proposing the AYEF project, which provides educational opportunities for over a thousand Azerbaijani youth abroad, publicizing corruption facts in SOCAR, and working to change its corrupt leadership, and researching the commercial activities of Azerbaijani officials in European countries, we have rendered historic services for democratic reforms in Azerbaijan. For this public interest-oriented activity, we have drawn the ire of those who benefit from the anti-democratic environment in Azerbaijan. The Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan prohibits depriving citizens of their freedom for a crime they did not commit. Also, under the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan, knowingly bringing a person to criminal responsibility (Article 290), illegally detaining, arresting, or keeping them in custody (Article 292), torturing them in police custody (Article 113), intentionally inflicting severe harm to health (Article 126), threatening to kill or cause severe harm to health (Article 134), driving someone to suicide (Article 125), and encouraging the consumption of psychotropic substances (Article 236) are criminal acts. It is inconceivable that all these crimes were committed against a UN GSP graduate and Istanbul University doctoral student in a country hosting a prestigious UN event like COP-29. I hope that UN Secretary-General António Guterres and High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk will not remain silent about these crimes against a UN GSP graduate. Human rights violations are not an internal affair of any country. Fighting corruption as Azerbaijani citizens does not justify depriving us of our fundamental rights and freedoms.

I ask our compatriots living in the US, Canada, Turkey, and European countries, as well as journalist friends, scholars, the UN, European institutions, international media organizations, and diplomats of democratic countries to contact (by calling, writing letters, and sending inquiries) and support us, preventing us from meeting the same fate as Alexei Navalny.