Observers: European Court Ruling on Azerbaijani Torture Case Could Prompt Change

A recent ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in a torture case brought by an opposition leader against the Azerbaijani government could have significant implications for the country's police practices and judicial system, local observers and human rights activists believe.

On January 11, the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights fined the Azerbaijani government 10,000 euros (about $13,074) for the police torture of Sardar Jalaloglu, a deputy chairman of the opposition Democratic Party of Azerbaijan, who, along with scores of other opposition activists, was arrested in October 2003 following demonstrations in Baku against the election of President Ilham Aliyev. [For details, see the Eurasia Insight archive]. The government has three months in which to pay the fine.

In his suit, Jalaloglu argued that police had badly beaten him, threatened him with rape, and had smashed up his apartment; he also claimed that he had been the target of political discrimination in rulings by local courts. The court found that the "violence" committed against Jalaloglu "should be qualified as torture."

At a January 15 press conference in Baku, Jalaloglu called the court's decision "a victory for all Azerbaijani democratic forces." The political activist, who was released from prison in 2005 under a presidential pardon, said that he is eager to use the case to eliminate the "system of torture" which, he claims, has become "the standard practice for the country's law-enforcement agencies."

Jalaloglu said he will push for the criminal prosecution of Interior Minister Ramil Usubov, Deputy Interior Minister Vilayat Eyvazov (a former head of the ministry's Anti-Organized Crime and Terrorism Department), Prosecutor General Zakir Garalov and several judges as well as interior ministry investigators and officials in connection with his case. The opposition leader's lawyer, Fuad Agayev, has pledged to push for the annulment of all local court rulings on Jalaloglu's detention.

The Azerbaijani government has not yet responded to the European Court of Human Rights' ruling or to the charges made by Jalaloglu.

That silence may prove increasingly difficult to maintain, however. Jalaloglu's case is the second recent judgment by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against the government of Azerbaijan. On November 16, 2006, the court ruled that the government should pay 5,500 euros (about $7,155) to Fahmin Hajiyev, a Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan activist who served as chief of the interior ministry's special forces in 1992-1993 under former President Abulfaz Elchibey. After the collapse of Elchibey's government, Hajiyev was arrested in August 1995 and sentenced to a 15-year prison term for murder and other crimes. The European Court of Human Rights found that Azerbaijan's Court of Appeals had violated Hajiyev's rights by failing for two years to rule on an appeal of his sentence.

However, some observers in Baku say that the court's ruling on Jalaloglu differs sharply from the Hajiyev case. "It is the first time when a European court has recognized the fact of torture in prisons in Azerbaijan and imposed a penalty on the government," commented Alesker Mammadli, a well-known lawyer and member of the Azerbaijani Bar Association. "[T]he ECHR in fact officially confirmed that Azerbaijani courts are working on the basis of political orders."

The ruling establishes a negative precedent for the government, Mammadli continued. "It is not often when the European Court of Human Rights mentions torture in its judgments. Usually, they call it