16/01/2025 Monitoring | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE's co-rapporteur for the monitoring of Azerbaijan, Lise Christoffersen (Norway, SOC), and the General Rapporteur for political prisoners, Thórhildur Sunna Ævarsdóttir (Iceland, SOC), have expressed deep concern at the recent sentencing of Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, a well-known Azerbaijani civil activist.
"We are deeply dismayed by the verdict of the Baku Court for Serious Crimes of 13 January, which sentenced Mr Hajiyev to 10 years' imprisonment, confiscated his apartment in Baku and the funds in his bank accounts, and banned him from educational activities for one year after his release. This sentence is unjust and disproportionate to the alleged offences.
Mr Hajiyev was arrested on 9 December 2022 and initially charged with hooliganism and contempt of court. He was later charged with economic crimes relating to the alleged misuse of allocated subsidies. He has denied all these charges, calling them "totally fabricated" and politically motivated. Human rights groups consider him a political prisoner.
In a statement on 13 February 2023 the co-rapporteurs had already expressed concern about the arbitrary nature of his pre-trial detention, which was believed to be linked to his criticism of the government.
The verdict of 13 January 2025 confirms these concerns and appears to follow the "troubling pattern of arbitrary arrest and detention of government critics, civil society activists and human rights defenders through retaliatory prosecution and misuse of criminal law in defiance of the rule of law" identified by the European Court of Human Rights in its case-law.
We call on the Azerbaijani authorities to review this judgment in line with international human rights standards and to immediately release Mr Hajiyev and all others who remain in detention in retaliation for their criticism of the government and/or their human rights work.”