REAL applied to OSCE

Mr Janez Lenarčič

Director,

OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)

14 February 2013

Dear Mr  Janez Lenarčič

Azerbaijan is set to conduct the next presidential elections in mid-October 2013. The country’s election record has been very poor in terms of fairness and freedom as reflected in all of the ODIHR observation reports. The recent arrest of Mr.Ilgar Mammadov, Chairman of our Movement, further undermines prospects for any progress.

Several months ago, we have publicly nominated Mr. Mammadov as our presidential candidate. We had announced plans to officially endorse his candidacy on 9 February 2013.

However, on 4 February 2013 he was arrested for two months. If the fictional charges against him are supported by the court, he may be sentenced to up to seven years of imprisonment. Your office is well aware of the deep problems in Azerbaijan’s judiciary, which has been functioning as a machine for production of political prisoners.

A number of reputable international organizations hard expressed serious criticism about his politically motivated arrest: Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Revenue Watch Institute, and etc. Key EU personalities, such as Catherine Ashton, Stephan Füle, Thornbjorn Jagland and others also negatively commented on this case.

Our candidate is arrested eight months before the voting day, i.e. at the time crucial for key aspects of elections:  It is precisely now that candidates are collecting the most part of campaign funding commitments from prospective donors, and make administrative and recruitment preparations-both for the collection of 40,000 registration signatures and general campaigning, and election day activities.

If Mr. Mammadov is not released immediately, this will severity interfere with the quality of our election performance.

We ask the OSCE/ODIHR to exercise all possible political pressure on Azerbaijani’s authorities in order to achieve Mr. Mammadov’s immediate release as well as other steps towards Azerbaijan’s compliance with its international obligations in the area of democratic elections.

Executive Board of the Republicanist Alternative (REAL) Movement:

Erkin Gadirli Emin Huseynov

Natig Jafarli Altay Goyushov

Zohrab Ismayil Azer Gasimli

Rasul Jafarov Azer Mehtiyev

Rovshan Agayev Jasur Sumerinli

Xalid Bagirov