Hundreds of people attend an anti-corruption protest in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku on 23 September 2017. “Free Afgan Mukhtarli!” reads this poster. Image still via YouTube / RFE/RL. Some rights reserved.International bodies do not systematically raise the attack on fundamental freedoms in Azerbaijan in their relations with the country, even when human rights and the rule of law are a key part of their mandate. Public prosecutors are a case in point: international professional bodies do not address the instrumentalisation of the profession in the suppression of civil society and opposition.
The Executive Committee of the International Association of Prosecutors (IAP), a worldwide association that claims to “set and raise standards of professional conduct and ethics for prosecutors worldwide” meets in Baku in April. They should kick off a formal review of the compliance of Azerbaijani prosecutors with its professional standards. Ahead of the meeting, the Netherlands Helsinki Committee has addressed a complaint to the IAP on Azerbaijan, suggesting its prosecution service is “guilty of dishonourable conduct”.
On 11 April, when the IAP meeting is held, presidential elections are taking place in Azerbaijan. Ilham Aliyev will be re-elected president. So much can be predicted in a country with severe restrictions on freedom of expression and on civil society and opposition organising. The IAP representatives will have ample possibilities to reflect on the role of their colleagues in arriving at this sorry state of democracy. Azerbaijan’s main opposition leader Ilgar Mammadov has been in jail since 2013 on politically motivated charges. He was sentenced to seven years imprisonment in a trial replete with irregularities in witness testimony and court proceedings. The European Court of Human Rights has judged that the conviction was unjust, but until now Mammadov has not been released and rehabilitated.
