Not So Free to Assemble

By Durna Safarli

Police struck protesters during a demonstration in November 2005.

Freedom of assembly is a constitutional right in Azerbaijan, but there are many, including Ramin Hajili, the former head of Dalga Youth Movement, who believe that right exists only on paper.

Up to 100 members of Dalga confronted the police in Fountain Square in central Baku on July 22 when they were rallying against the fact that many newspapers were run by oligarchs. “We were simply reading newspapers in groups. Five minutes into the rally, 30 to 40 policemen ordered us to disperse and started grabbing our newspapers and ripping them up. When they tried to take a camera I was holding in my hand, a confrontation occurred.” Hajili said that the chief of police station # 9, Hasan Abdullayev, explained the reason for the arrests with the following words: “Reading newspapers in groups violate the public order.”

This is not the only occasion when members of Dalga were accused of violating the public order, as stated by the police. On November 28 police arrested members of the group while they were riding bicycles on the boulevard in Baku. Hajili says the goal of the rally was to advocate the replacement of cars with bicycles. However, this initiative also cost them a few hours at the police station. “Eighty percent of the rallies we held were concluded with drinking hot tea at the police station,” Hajili stated.

The opposition parties often complain that the freedom of assembly law is being violated by the government. Deputy Chair of the Popular Front, Fuad Mustavayev says that his party has attempted to hold about one hundred rallies since 2003 and slightly more than ten of them were approved by the government. “Thousands of rally participants were arrested for a short time. The number of injured during these rallies exceeds five thousand,” he said.

An injured woman carried away during a protest in 2005 against claims that the government used fraud to win the elections.

According to Mustafayev, even when a rally is authorized the places allocated to them are located on the outskirts of the city, like Ukraine square, for instance.

However, a recent petition by a coalition of journalists to hold a rally at Ukraine square on December 8 to demand the release of several jailed journalists was turned down as well.

Two days before the protest was to be held, the Baku City Hall said, in a letter, that Bibiheybat Stadium was a more appropriate place to hold the protest. The letter did not elaborate on why Ukraine square was not appropriate.

One of the organizers, Emin Huseynli, the director of the Institute for Reporter Freedom and Safety, said that they decided not to have the rally at the stadium because there was no public transportation that goes to the site – located eight kilometers northwest of Baku. Very few people live in the area where the stadium is located and the road to the site is very narrow. “They knew we would be forced to turn down their offer and therefore they made this suggestion,” Huseynli said.

The law on freedom of assembly prohibits rallies in the following places: within 300 meters of government buildings, on lands where there are oil and gas pipelines, high voltage electric lines and along railways, on property allocated for special government events and on land used for military purposes. Rallies are also prohibited around jails, religious sites and psychiatric hospitals.

Mubariz Gurbanli , a representative of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, thinks that there are no restrictions on freedom of assembly as long as organizers don’t choose places that are prohibited and that are too crowded. “Restrictions applied by the Baku City Executive Power and its refusal to authorize an opposition rally next to the subway station is in line with the law. If somebody wants to conduct a rally in front of the subway station it will create a significant problem for passengers and hamper the flow of people around the area,” he said.

Mustafayev, the deputy chairman of the Popular Front, an opposition party, believes that the goal of any rally is to convey the protest to the state bodies and the people. He adds that there is no reason to hold a rally where there are no citizens.

Deputy chair of the Musavat party, Arif Hajili says that opposition parties have been discriminated against when trying to organize rallies. “When we wanted to march on Istiglaliyyat Street on the 18th of October we were told by the Baku City Hall that we would not be allowed to do so. However, the government has conducted rallies and other events at this particular spot on a number of occasions,” he said.

Research conducted by the League for Citizen Labor Rights on freedom of assembly over the past nine months in Azerbaijan indicates that neither the Constitution nor the law on public assembly is being followed. The League for Citizen Labor Rights is a local NGO that is funded by various international organizations including the OSCE and Open Society Institute.

Sahib Mammadov, who heads the League of Citizen Labor Rights, and is monitoring the way the government handles freedom of assembly says that it is not only the opposition parties that see their requests to conduct a rally turned down. Initiatives like the newspaper reading rally organized by Ramin Hajily and Dalga members and the environmental protection rally have led to confrontations with police. A petition by a number of NGOs to hold a rally, in June, in support of Azerbaijan’s integration into Europe was denied as well.

The president of the local NGO, Public Forum for the Sake of Azerbaijan, Eldar Namazov says for all intents and purposes, the right of freedom of assembly has been repealed in Azerbaijan. “The reason for these prohibitions is to prevent any public initiative in the country,” he said.

Mammadov, the head of League for Citizen Labor Rights, submitted a petition to the Baku City Hall to conduct a protest against the arrest of journalists and received a refusal note. The response stated: “We advise you to use more civilized methods rather than conduct a picket.” Mammadov says he doesn’t understand what is meant by civilized methods. “The job of the Baku City Executive Power is not to give recommendations. They don’t even have a right not to authorize a rally,” he said. The League sued the Baku City Executive Power for refusing to grant them a permit to protest. Mammadov notes that the appeal was refused by all the appeals courts in the country. Currently, the League is preparing documents to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

Human Rights lawyer, Khalid Agaliyev points out that the chance of winning such a lawsuit in Azerbaijan is very small. “Though NGOs and parties appealed on a number of occasions to local courts in regard to the violation of their right to freedom of assembly, their complaints have not been considered. Appeals to the European Court regarding freedom of assembly have a trend for positive resolution,” he said.

Agaliyev says that more than 10 legal cases have been sent to the European Court regarding the violation of the right to freedom of assembly in Azerbaijan. Those cases are still being considered by the European Court.

For the present it is not clear what the European Court of Human Rights will decide in regard to complaints filed by Sahib Mammadov and others, and whether or not the Government of Azerbaijan will change its policy regarding the freedom of assembly should Mammadov and the others win before the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Not So Free to Assemble

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