EU countries should not rush to readmission of political emigrants - human rights activist

Baku/02.03.22/Turan: Over the past four months, four activists deported from Germany by way of readmission have been arrested in Azerbaijan on charges of drug trafficking. They are: Mutallim Orujov, Punkhan Karimli (both members of the Popular Front Party), Malik Rzayev (non-party) and Jafar Mirzoyev (member of the organization “Choose Democratic Azerbaijan” operating in Germany).

Family members of those arrested and their associates claim that the real reason for the arrests is participation in protests in Germany demanding the release of political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

The agreement on the readmission of illegally residing persons between Azerbaijan and the EU was signed in February 2014. In December 2016, a working group was established to promptly resolve the problems of persons subjected to readmission and their reintegration into society.

The attempts  to get a comment from the State Migration Service regarding the arrest of political activists were futile. Earlier, the head of this department, Vusal Huseynov, said that 420 people were readmitted to Azerbaijan in 2021 and the necessary measures were taken to reintegrate them into society.

Lawyer Neymat Karimli defends the rights of 3 of the 4 arrested - Mutallim Orujov, Malik Rzayev and Jafar Mirzoyev. According to the lawyer, after returning to Baku, these persons were subjected to interrogations and they were required to provide information about their activities in Germany.

“My clients testified under duress. Complaints about the use of torture against them remained futile,” the lawyer said. Human rights activist Zaur Akper believes that the Azerbaijani government, although it fulfills its readmission obligations, in some cases allows abuses. “This is manifested in the fact that law enforcement officers are interrogating quarantined people, asking questions that are not relevant to the case, trying to get them to cooperate. Those who cannot be recruited are later arrested on trumped-up charges, and in particular on drug charges,” Akper said. According to him, the EU and especially the German government should express their attitude towards the arrests of the readmis.

In turn, the representative of the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Elshad Hajiyev, considers the allegations of torture of persons returned from Germany unfounded. “Such statements do not reflect reality. The police act within the law,” Hajiyev said.

The German embassy in Baku did not comment on allegations of persecution of persons readmitted from that country. -06B-