Possibility of dialogue between civil society organizations and local authorities of Azerbaijan

A regional seminar titled "Structured Dialog on Civil Society and Local Authorities Involvement in EC Cooperation" will be held in Baku on February 09-10, 2011. The seminar will foresee the participation of representatives from EC and also from Algeria, Belarus, Georgia, Israel, Moldova, Russia, Syria, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen and other countries. . The European Union addresses a problem that is very important and urgent for our state and society - DIALOGUE between the civil society and authorities. I regret to acknowledge that in principle there is no such a Dialogue in Azerbaijan. By 2009 the country"s authorities totally trampled the freedoms of speech and thought, the right to fair trial, defense against torture and free elections. In 2010 citizens" property right was totally violated in an undisguised manner. In outrage of the law the authorities began seizing legal property belonging to tens of thousands of people (apartments, private houses and lands). Among them are victims of the May flood which affected some regions of the country, and residents of Fizuli and Badalbeyli streets in Baku. The law arbitrariness was accompanied by police violence. The police kicked in apartments, violently threw the elderly, women and children out of their apartments, unlawfully detained citizens in police stations. Herewith, the Institute of Peace and Democracy embarks on the Action to: 1. demonstrate possibility of a AR citizen to defend his/her right to property and other rights at law resting on the effective legislation and the judiciary;2. demonstrate possibility of CSO-LA Dialogue;3. demonstrate possibility to avoid police violence (including physical abuse) Within this Action, Leyla Yunus, IPD Director, by her own example will show arbitrariness of the executive and judiciary the country"s citizen encounters while defending his/her right to property ensured by Article 13 of the AR Constitution. Situation Description From June 01 till December 19, 2010 Leyla and Arif Yunusov stayed in Germany on the invitation of the Hamburg Foundation for Political Dissidents (Hamburger Stiftung fur Politisch Verfolgte). During their absence in Azerbaijan Yasamal Division of the Communication Ministry by-passing law confiscated 2 city landlines belonging to the Yunusovs in their apartment No. 2, located at 38 Shamsi Badalbeyli Street. The Yunusovs were thus deprived of the telephone, fax and internet communication.On January 18 Leyla and Arif Yunusov brought a lawsuit against Yasamal Division of the Ministry to Nasimi District Court according to their place of residence in Nasimi district (Defense: Fuad Agayev).On January 21 the Yunusovs were notified on referral of the case to Sayad Gafarli, judge of Nasimi District Court. Strategy and Tactics of the IPD Action IPD will on a regular basis submit the under-mentioned at e-mail addresses of the local authorities as specified in the Enclosure, international organizations, embassies, and mass media: updates of the legal trial response of the executive bodies norms and provisions of the AR property legislation updates on response measures of the executive with regard to the property of Leyla and Arif Yunusov legal actions by L. and A. Yunusov to defend their rights and efficiency of these actions The full information (in Azerbaijani, English and Russian) will be available on IPD website (www.tt-ipd.info), regularly in "Novoye Vremya" newspaper and its website (www.novoye-vremya.com), the information about action will be also on the website of Turan News Agency. Expectations First results can be presented right at the EU Seminar on Feb 09-10 thus summarizing the information on progress of proceedings of the lawsuit against the Division of the Communication Ministry in Nasimi District Court and official responses from the Ministry itself.We plan to arrange a table discussion-Dialogue in February-March with participation of top lawyers of Azerbaijan, representatives of the civil society and Baku city executive authority to discuss compliance of actions of the executive with the national law. All legal trials and decisions of judges within this action will be evaluated in terms of their compliance with the national law and the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Analyses of the trials made by IPD legal experts supplemented with names of judges-committers of law outrage will be made available on the IPD website, "Novoye Vremya" newspaper and its website, translated into English and German and submitted for review of the international organizations . The Action plans to collect data on problems of the CSO-LA Dialogue path (achievements and failure), on representatives of the executive and judicial authorities, law-enforcement agencies, who committed illegalities. The legal experts will collect evidences of this lawlessness. The entire collected information, photo and video materials, names of officials guilty of law transgression and bearing criminal and administrative responsibility for abuse of their powers will be made available online and disclosed to researchers and experts with international organizations, as well as the international community.