Presentation of Georgian Dossier on Persecution of Azerbaijani Activists in Neighboring Country

Baku / 12.10.17 / Turan: The Center for the Protection of Political Prisoners presented a report titled The Georgian Case: Persecution, Arrests and Existing Realities.

This document is intended to highlight the events taking place in Georgia with Azerbaijani political emigrants. We are talking about the latest arrests in the neighboring country, pressure on Azerbaijani political emigrants, journalists and businessmen, the reasons for this and the current state of affairs in this country.

In particular, the report contains specific facts of the persecution of Azerbaijani activists in Georgia under the pressure of official Baku.

One of them was blogger Mehman Galandarov, who criticized the Azerbaijani authorities on the Internet. He was one of the organizers of the protest action in front of the Azerbaijani embassy in Tbilisi in September 2016 against the reactionary amendments to the Constitution.

On his return from Tbilisi to Baku on February 7, 2017, he held a solitary action in front of the monument to Heydar Aliyev, demanding the release of youth activists Giyas Ibrahimov and Bayram Mammadov. After the action, Galandarov was arrested for slanderous false accusations of drug possession. On April 28, Mehman Galandarov died under suspicious circumstances in the Baku detention center. International organizations made statements, demanding that the government conduct an objective and transparent investigation into the death, which was not done.

Further in the report it is said about the arrest of the deputy chairman of the Popular Front Party Gezal Bayramli on May 25, 2017 when crossing the frontier point on the Azerbaijani-Georgian border. She was accused of smuggling, planted 12,000 US dollars in her baggage. Official propaganda accused Bayramli of receiving money from the West.

Independent investigative journalist Afghan Mukhtarly lived in Georgia until May 29, 2017 and was abducted, beaten and forcibly taken to Baku. He was also accused of smuggling and illegal crossing of the border. Mukhtarly said in court that he was forcibly taken from Georgia to the border and put 10 thousand euros in his pocket.

In recent years, Mukhtarly actively participated in the actions in Tbilisi against the Azerbaijani authorities and conducted a number of investigations on the corruption of the Azerbaijani officials.

In Georgia, along with Azerbaijani political emigrants, business people from Azerbaijan live and work. The wave of harassment by official Baku also touched them. One of these people is the founder and owner of the clinic Lancet Farman Jeyranly, who was arrested on May 18 in 2017. The reason for the arrest was the death of a patient after the liver transplant surgery in the clinic founded by Jeyranli in April 2016. However, the doctor Mirjalal Kazymi, who carried out the operation, was not brought to justice or even questioned, in spite of the petition of the defense. This is a serious argument in favor of the fact that the arrest of Jeyranli was custom-made.

Another social activist subjected to pressure is Dashgin Agalarly. In the spring of 2017, the Georgian Court of Appeal overturned the right of residence granted to him and he was expected to be deported. However, after the scandal with the abduction of Mukhtarli, the authorities allowed him to stay.

Member of the REAL movement Rahim Shaliyev fled to Georgia because of persecution and threat of arrest in Azerbaijan.

Zarifa Guliyeva was the director of the Public Association for Assistance to Disabled Children and Orphans in 2005-2014. In 2014, the authorities froze the bank account of the organization and Guliyeva moved with her family to Tbilisi, where she also faces harassment.

Another political activist from among those residing in Georgia is the former political prisoner Vidadi Iskenderli. He was also subjected to harassment and surveillance, and his relatives in Azerbaijan were fired from their jobs.

"It follows from the above data and investigations that law enforcement agencies of Azerbaijan are behind all this. In this case they are assisted by Georgian law enforcement agencies. The goal of the Azerbaijani government is not to let Azerbaijani political emigrants gather in the neighboring country freely to carry out their activities, hold protest actions, and criticize the policy of official Baku," the report says.

The humanitarian and political protection of Azerbaijani political emigrants living and functioning in Georgia is very weak. It is necessary that local and international organizations strengthen efforts to ensure the security, humanitarian and political protection of these emigrants, the study notes. -06D-