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Baku/05.07.19 The Spanish police did not find the thief who stole the watch worth $ 1.3 million from the Azerbaijani tourist. Earlier in Azerbaijan they wrote about the cost of watches of the 50-03 McLaren F1 brand at 1 million, then at 1.2 million dollars. However, the Spanish newspaper Diario de Ibiza reported that at about 4:30 in the evening a thief stole from the tourist who was walking at the sea on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza, a watch worth $ 1.3 million.

This story is revealed in a Bloomberg article titled “Who Was the Man Wearing the $ 1.3 Million Watch Stolen in Spain, Azeris Wonder.”

The agency Bloomberg reports that the photo of the report of the Spanish police, which is widespread on social networks, stating that the victim, 25-year-old Azerbaijani citizen Rashad Abdullayev, is real. An informed source added that the report contains Abdullayev’s passport data and contact details, as well as the names of his mother and two friends who were with him in Ibiza.

Azerbaijani opposition parties and human rights activists stated that the victim is the son of Rovnag Abdullayev, the president of the State Oil Company (SOCAR) of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Since 2005, he is a member of parliament. 54-year-old Abdullayev, according to his biography, has a son with the same name and year of birth, writes Bloomberg.

Neither the president of the state-owned company Abdullayev, nor the SOCAR led by him publicly commented on the published information. The press service of SOCAR did not respond to repeated emails or phone calls for several days, while answering business-related questions.

The police report says that Rashad Abdullayev did not answer calls to his mobile phone from the police. The director of communications of the company, manufacturer of watches Richard Mille – Laura Hughes said that the company does not want to comment on the theft, the agency added.

President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly warned government officials, demanding that they not lead an extravagant lifestyle and monitor the behavior of their children. The president threatened to dismiss those who did not comply with his demands. However, the president did not make a statement about the incident that took place in Ibiza on 9 June.

The agency informs readers that the average monthly salary in Azerbaijan is 581 manat ($ 343), according to the State Statistics Committee of the country, which indicates that it is impossible for the overwhelming majority of the population to buy watches worth $ 1.3 million.

In the information block of the report on the theft of watches, Bloomberg recalls the high level of corruption in oil Azerbaijan, which ranked 152 180 on the corruption perception index in 2018, along with Nicaragua and Tajikistan.

The pro-government sites of Azerbaijan, referring to the Russian “AMF” wrote that the stolen watches were fake, their price was $ 1,000, and not more than a million.

Turan

On July 3 Ali Hasanov, an assistant of the president of Azerbaijan for social and political issues, made a statement in connection with the first anniversary of the Ganja events of 2018, when a native of the city, Yunis Safarov, attempted to assassinate Ganja executive power Elmar Veliyev.

The statement of Hasanov, which is aggressive in its essence, boils down to the fact that this is the work of foreign circles, radical religious groups. Hasanov accuses the secular opposition, civil society and the country’s media in supporting and justifying the attempt, in actions against statehood and national interests.

His statement calls for supporters of the regime to take up arms against all dissidents, who criticize the authorities, and the so-called national interests in the understanding of Hasanov. However, in his statement, Hasanov did not say anything about the social and moral atmosphere in Ganja on the eve of the assassination, from which many years there were complaints and signals about popular discontent with the actions of the chief executive, galloping corruption, and derogatory treatment of citizens by Veliyev.

Hasanov cannot explain why, after the assassination, the social networks throughout the country exploded with jubilation, having learned about the attempted murder of a person for years insulting and harassing the inhabitants of Ganja.

Hasanov cannot explain why society perceived the defender of ordinary people from Robin Hood, the defender of ordinary people from bloodsucking rulers. Why the Internet has covered the orgy of joy, sometimes going beyond the bounds of decency?

Social networks, which cannot be called manageable, in contrast to the media, funded from the black box office of the regime, gave a clear public assessment, from which it follows that Safarov is a hero and Veliyev is an antihero.

According to Hasanov, whose name is often mentioned in corruption, the current government is the conductor and defender of the democratic development of Azerbaijan and the personification of the guarantee of security and stability.

Hasanov often mentions state and national interests. What public interests does the assistant to the president of the country, who ranks last in the world of corruption, suppresses the rights and freedoms of citizens, speak about? Countries that are shaken by international scandals to launder billions of dollars of money stolen from the people, bribing politicians? Corruption is anti-state, anti-national; it undermines the foundations of the state and national security. The last three years testify to that. Society and the state in its mentality rolls back or, if we paraphrase Hasanov, in the Middle Ages.

However, it should be noted that the national interests are determined by the Constitution and, in accordance with the basic law; they are primarily based on such values ​​as freedom and the protection of the rights of the individual citizen. Every person and citizen, regardless of his views, ethnic, political, religious and other affiliation.

The statement of Hasanov shows that the state, which he personifies, sees dissidents as enemies, criminals, traitors who deserve persecution and punishment.

What national interests does Hasanov speak about when the state suppresses the constitutional rights of citizens to freedom of expression, movement, assembly? When social, economic, political rights are suppressed, moral values ​​are degraded, and the rule of law is violated.

Hasanov”s statement should be viewed as a clear message to the world and local community that Azerbaijan will continue to remain a state of violence and obscurantism, intolerance and cruelty, lawlessness and voluntarism.

Hasanov reaffirmed the unshakable policy of the authorities to deepen the crisis in the country, caused by the erroneous policy of the regime, and a false interpretation of state and national interests.

Mehman Aliyev

“B настоящее время религиозная ситуация в Азербайджане стабильна, процессы и тенденции под контролем”. Об этом заявил глава госкомитета по работе с религиозными структурами Мубариз Гурбанлы в своей статье, опубликованной в сегодняшнем номере официальной газеты “Азербайджан”.

По его словам, в корне возникающих в этой сфере проблем кроются религиозная безграмотность, неверное представление ислама.

Он также сообщил, что Фонд пропаганды духовных ценностей ежемесячно оказывает материальную помощь свыше 1060 священнослужителям, назначенным Управлением мусульман Кавказа.

По словам Гурбанлы, если в советское время в Азербайджане было всего 17 мечетей, то сегодня их число превышает 2250.

Кроме того, на территории страны действует 14 церквей, 7 синагог.

На сегодняшний день в Азербайджане зарегистрированы 877 исламских, 32 – не исламские (21- христианская, 8 – иудаистских, 2 – бахаитские, 1 – кришнаитская ) общин.

Не ясно, что имеет в виду Гурбанлы, кода говорит о контроле над религиозной ситуацией.

Однако правозащитные организации заявляют о преследованиях религиозных активистов за их убеждения. Из 150 политзаключенных около 100 человек являются верующими.

Заявление Гурбанлы о религиозной стабильности контрастирует с официальной версией правоохранительных органов об угрозе религиозного радикализма. Так, по официальной версии, именно исламские радикалы стояли за покушением на бывшего главу Гянджи Эльмара Bелиева и последующих беспорядков в этом городе в июле 2018 г., в результате которых были убиты двое офицеров полиции.

B связи с указанными событиями арестованы около 70 человек.

По Конституции Азербайджана религия отделена от государства. B связи с этим возникает вопрос насколько соответствует принципам светского государства оказание правительством материальной помощи “наместникам” провластного УМК.

“Arif, my dear!

Well, after 36 years of our lives with you, we were in different cells in different zones …

My dear, do not you know, I bear it: and the terrible physical pain
(from the cold water I went to the inflammatory process) and pressure
ugolovnitsy with great experience in the camera (by the way, she comes
from Ganja, Ganja again our failed us) and even visits these jackals of
the prosecutor’s office. I stand no gear (I know, and you are completely
without gears, without a change of clothes, medicines). I, too, without
food and without medication. Can you imagine what these jackals are
Usubovs, lemberanskis they little that we in the sweltering chamber,
they have more hunger and starved and without medication.

But the hardest part is that you’re not around. We’re almost never parted all 36 years!

I can not not be able to even talk to you in the mail and I decided to
write you this open letter. As something they get to you.

You know, we read with you all – and Solzhenitsyn, and Varlaam
Shalamova and Grossman and Aksenov. We’re often discussed, they feel the
couple, who were taken together. And in 1937 there were a great many.

We’re just not assume that in the XXI century, we come to the
repression of the 30s. Yesterday I was reminded of the words of Grossman
in his “Life and Fate”. He writes about the feelings of the prisoners:
“terrible sadness is replaced by meaningless opium – optimism …”

How exactly said about optimism in the prisons of authoritarian
structures. And still there: the Jews in 1942 in the camps passed each
other accurate information, “Hitler gave a tough ultimatum – immediately
release all the Jews!”

And people believed … Believed because clinging to meaningless opium – optimism.

We are with you – realists. “Politics – a dirty business.” We’re all
aware. It would not have developed life – the most terrible that I can
not see you. And it is with you our 37th year.

Hugs,

Leyla

*Letter poisoned human rights activist Leyla Yunus to spouse Arif from the detention center in Kurdakhani

Azerbaijani authorities should immediately secure the release of
leading human rights defender Leyla Yunus from pretrial custody, and
drop the politically motivated charges against her and her husband Arif
Yunus, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should also end
their ongoing harassment against the couple.

“The context leading up to these recent charges, including the
harassment they have endured over the past four months, make it clear
that the charges against Leyla and Arif Yunus are bogus and intended to
silence them,” said Rachel Denber,
deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The
authorities should immediately end this campaign of intimidation against
Azerbaijan’s leading human rights defenders and allow them to work
unimpeded.”

Azerbaijan’s
international partners, including the Council of Europe leadership and
its member countries, should make clear that continued harassment of
human rights defenders, and the Yunuses in particular, will have direct
effects on their relationships with Azerbaijan’s government.

Leyla Yunus is the director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, a
human rights group formed in 1995 that has focused on combating
politically motivated prosecutions, corruption, violence against women,
and unlawful house evictions. The organization has also been involved in
projects aimed at improving people-to-people dialogue between
intellectuals and community leaders in Azerbaijan and Armenia, against
the background of the unresolved conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, the
autonomous enclave in Azerbaijan primarily populated by ethnic
Armenians.

On July 30, 2014, at about 11:45 a.m., representatives of the Grave
Crimes Investigation Unit of the General Prosecutor’s Office, detained
Leyla Yunus on her way to a conference at a partner organization’s
office and drove her to the general prosecutor’s office, Arif Yunus told
Human Rights Watch.

Shortly thereafter, about six men in civilian clothes rang the bell at
the Yunus’s residence. Arif Yunus refused to open the door until he
could summon his lawyer, but by the time his lawyer arrived, the men
were gone. Yunus decided to turn himself in to the general prosecutor’s
office and arrived there with his lawyer shortly after 1 p.m.

Yunus told Human Rights Watch that he and his wife were accused of
spying for the Armenian secret services and interrogated in separate
rooms. He said that they chose to remain silent and not to respond to
any questions because the charges were so humiliating and absurd.

The investigators claimed that the Yunuses have used foreign grant
money to recruit Azerbaijani citizens to participate in second-track
diplomacy efforts over the unresolved conflict of Nagorno-Karabakh, and
used this as a cover for espionage.

Investigators also claimed that the couple operated an unregistered
nongovernmental organization and failed to pay taxes on grants they
received. While it is true that the Institute for Peace and Democracy is
not registered, the authorities make it almost impossible for human
rights organizations in Azerbaijan to register.

After six hours of interrogation, the prosecutor’s office pressed
charges against both Leyla and Arif Yunus. Criminal charges against
Leyla Yunus include treason (criminal code article 274), fraud causing
large damages (article 178.3.2), illegal entrepreneurship by an
organized group (article 192.2.2), tax evasion (article 213), and
falsifying official documents (article 320). Arif Yunus was charged with
treason and fraud.

For health considerations, the authorities released Arif Yunus under
house arrest and police supervision, while Baku’s Nasimi District Court
sent Leyla Yunus directly from the courtroom to pretrial custody for
three months. Arif Yunus told Human Rights Watch that his wife suffers
from severe diabetes and requires special meals at certain intervals. He
said he feared the authorities would not provide her with adequate care
in detention.

“This arrest and the charges have been in the making for some months
now and appear to be in retaliation for the Yunuses human rights work
and their outspoken criticism of the authorities,” Denber said. “The
authorities should immediately release Leyla Yunus from pretrial
detention and drop the charges in the absence of any credible evidence
that they are justifiable.”

On April 28, Baku airport police prevented the couple from leaving the
country, confiscated their passports, and subjected them to a 24-hour ordeal
of interrogations and house searches that led to Arif Yunus’s
hospitalization with hypertension. The prosecutor’s office subsequently
designated them witnesses in a treason investigation against an
Azerbaijani journalist and civil society activist, Rauf Mirgadirov, who
was deported from Turkey on April 19 and then arrested in Baku.

Since then the authorities have repeatedly summoned the couple for
interrogations. However, the Yunuses have refused to cooperate with the
investigation until their passports are returned and their freedom of
movement restored. Arif Yunus said he believed an open letter
Leyla Yunus sent to the president of Azerbaijan a day earlier about the
arrests of youth activists, entitled “What Are You Afraid of, Mr.
President?” infuriated the authorities and possibly led to her
detention.

Azerbaijan has a long history of using bogus charges to imprison its
critics, including on treason charges, Human Rights Watch said. In the
past two years, Azerbaijani authorities have brought or threatened
unfounded criminal charges against over 40 political activists, journalists, bloggers, and human rights defenders, most of whom are behind bars.

In August 2011, violating a court injunction, the Baku authorities demolished without
warning a building owned by Leyla Yunus as part of a government land
clearance to make way for a park and business area. The building housed
the Institute for Peace and Democracy and two other human rights groups.
Yunus had repeatedly criticized the government’s redevelopment plans for the area.

The crackdown on critical voices continued even as, on May 15,
Azerbaijan took over the rotating chairmanship of the Committee of
Ministers of the Council of Europe, Europe’s foremost human rights body.

“Azerbaijan takes pride in chairing this important regional
institution, yet routinely violates the very values and rights
protections on which it is built and for which it exists,” Denber said.
“The least Azerbaijan’s partners in the Council of Europe can now do is
to urge the government to release Leyla Yunus from pretrial custody and
end its escalating persecution of government critics.”