Reformer's detention raises questions about human rights in Azerbaijan

But critics counter that better relations with Washington must be in step with democratic reforms, and not obscure a grim human rights record that could become a destabilizing force within the country. The high-profile case of a leading reform minister imprisoned on still unproven charges cuts to the heart of the debate.

The Bush administration last April came under heavy fire for receiving President Ilham Aliyev at the White House following 2005 parliamentary elections roundly condemned by international observers as flawed. In the days running up to the ballot, riot police beat up opposition protesters and a number of ranking ministers were summarily arrested. According to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the vote was marred by irregularities, ballot-stuffing and intimidation. Human rights watchdogs slammed the invitation as another failure of a conflicted U.S. foreign policy where democratic slogans belie actions guided by cold strategic interests.

Azerbaijan is a secular Muslim country wedged between Russia and Iran. U.S. officials stress its value as an energy alternative and security partner in a sensitive region. They cite continued Azeri oil and natural gas deliveries to Europe as a counterweight to the dominance of Russia's state-owned Gazprom energy giant, along with Aliyev's early willingness to contribute troops to missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Others say its northern border with Iran, and sizeable Azeri minority within the Islamic republic, could prove useful as tensions rise. The U.S. military is also granted over-flight rights in Azeri airspace and the Pentagon is sponsoring the modernization of a former Soviet airfield that may be used by U.S. forces in the future.

Azerbaijan's geographic position has added significance: It represents a U.S. foothold in the Caucasus at a time Russian influence is on the wane. And administration officials maintain that, despite rights shortcomings, Aliyev is a cooperative partner a step above the leadership of countries like Uzbekistan that needs to be engaged rather than left alone to gravitate toward Moscow or Tehran.

But even these realist considerations collide in the case of Farhad Aliyev (no relation to the president). A popular former minister of economic development, he has been locked in solitary confinement since October 2005 on accusations yet to be backed by hard evidence in a court of law. His supporters say efforts to make the business market more open and transparent in a country ranked near the bottom on every international corruption index is what precipitated his downfall. A bevy of U.S. and European rights groups and lawmakers contend his detention is politically motivated, making him a political prisoner.

Aliyev was widely regarded as one of the government's most pro-West reformers until he and his brother Rafig, chairman of Azerbaijan's leading oil refiner, Azpetrol, were seized along with two other ministers, just days prior to parliamentary elections, on charges of plotting a coup. In the 1990s, Farhad Aliyev climbed into the business elite through construction and other commercial enterprises. His savvy soon gained the attention of autocrat Heydar Aliyev, father of Ilham, who took power after a 1993 coup and guided Azerbaijan through the post-Soviet transition. After a series of lower appointments, the older Aliyev in 2001 tapped Farhad Aliyev to be his minister of economic development, responsible for privatizing state property, and boosting competition and foreign investment. The former leader died in a U.S. hospital two years later.

In his post, Farhad Aliyev is said to have pushed through reforms to better integrate Azerbaijan into the West. Leading his agenda was a campaign to reduce the power of state-affiliated monopolists that have traditionally controlled the flow of imports and exports. He stressed the importance of membership in the World Trade Organization and active cooperation with developmental institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Observers note that he was particularly adept at using media to challenge the authority of the state customs committee, seen by the Azeri public and business community as a locus of graft.

"Corruption is endemic in this country . . . [and the customs] department has been at the top of the list," said one European official working in the country, who deals directly with the government on reform matters. "[Farhad Aliyev] was generally regarded as a fair and good businessman, even among a disillusioned Azeri public. The West rightfully saw him as someone to work with, someone with a promising political future."

According to Azeri news reports, state interference was reduced in entrepreneurial activities and certain controlling agencies were abolished during Farhad Aliyev's tenure; President Aliyev is said to have seen the political dangers of allowing blatant official impunity to continue unchecked. But a public rivalry soon formed between Farhad Aliyev and customs chief Kamaleddin Heydarov, who business leaders led by Aliyev accused of stifling economic competition by making it difficult for new businesses -- foreign and domestic -- to enter the Azeri market.

Heydarov's post also reportedly gave him the authority to artificially increase the prices of goods in the country, harming domestic production but reaping greater profits for himself. Price inflation peaked in early 2005 and reportedly led to street protests. Efforts by both men to secure the support of the president were coupled with public media campaigns to win over the public; Aliyev went a step further when he controversially stated that as far as Azerbaijan's social and economic development were concerned, "Russia is Azerbaijan's past, the West is its future."

A power struggle went on behind the scenes, and many here say Aliyev's agitation of the establishment was too much. Just weeks after he reported to the Prosecutor-General's Office that unspecified criminal groups had threatened to kill him, on Oct. 19, 2005, Aliyev was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to overthrow the government. A charge of embezzling state property through fraudulent privatization schemes was later added.

Aliyev was accused of conspiring with Rasul Guliyev, an exiled chairman of a major opposition party, purportedly en route back to Baku to run as a candidate in the Nov. 6 parliamentary elections. The official statement said Aliyev had given Guliyev supporters $120,000 to stir unrest upon his return from the United States. That charge was based on the confession of ousted Finance Minister Fikrat Yusifov, who allegedly met with Guliyev outside the country. Yusifov, an alleged co-conspirator, was released from government custody less than two months later.

Guliyev categorically denied the allegations, or ever having met Aliyev. He told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Azerbaijani Service: "A new wave of repression has started in Azerbijan. . . . I don't know Farhad Aliyev at all and I've never had any meeting with Yusifov." Analysts queried in the capital agreed that such an association was highly unlikely give their opposing party affiliations.

Farhad Aliyev and his brother, Rafig, also held on a smuggling charge rights groups call dubious, have now been locked up for almost a year and a half in the bowels of the Ministry of National Security. Neither has received due process, according to human rights groups, which point to a litany of legal and rights violations in the case. U.S. Attorney Charles Both, who represents the brothers, says that, since their arrest, the original charges have not been elaborated in a court of law; no evidence in support of charges has been offered; no public hearing has been held; and no trial date set.

Azeri law stipulates that pre-trial detention can last a maximum of 18 months, meaning the government has until April to try the Aliyev brothers. The state prosecutor's office contends the case is "complicated" and said it must work with foreign law enforcement agencies to interrogate people abroad connected to the case. However, no explanation has been offered as to whom and why.

Additionally, observers note that Farhad Aliyev has been denied sufficient medical attention despite serious heart problems, including hypertension and hypertrophy. During a fact-finding mission last year, the International League for Human Rights verified that he had not received proper medical care and medication for his condition. The only steady contact Aliyev has had with the outside world is through his Azeri attorney, Elton Guliyev, though heavy restrictions are placed on the few meetings allowed.

To date, Aliyev's wife and two children have been denied any contact with him. They say they have been subject to harassment and surveillance by authorities, including the day of his arrest, when their home was stormed by armed men in masks and valuables were stolen. The family has since moved to an apartment in clear view of the Ministry of National Secuirity, where Aliyev and his brother are being held.

Meanwhile, the business interests of the Aliyev brothers have been confiscated and sold off to "pro-Russian business enterprises favored by the Azerbaijan authorities," according to a study by Both, which called for their immediate release from pre-trial detention and free access to defense counsel. He asserts the allegations against the pair are "the direct result of Farhad Aliyev's position in open favor of [Azerbaijan's] integration into the international community, closer ties with the United States, [the] European Union . . . and successful implementation of economic reforms and antimonopoly policy, all of which run counter to the interests of many powerful domestic players." International human rights organizations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have echoed this belief.

One unlikely ally in Aliyev's corner is Jamil Hasanli, an independent member of parliament and prominent Azeri historian, who says he knew the former minister only from a distance. Hasanli now chairs a committee to defend the rights of the Aliyev brothers. "To begin, a minister of economic development cannot pull off a coup d'etat," he said. "It's simple: he did not have the support of the military. And there is no evidence. Of course it's not easy to prove a coup that did not exist."

Hasanil did not get involved in the case until July of last year, when, in addition to the original charges, the state accused Farhad Aliyev of orchestrating the March 2005 assassination of Elmar Huseynov, a highly popular journalist critical of the government. This secondary allegation was "too much," Hasanli says. According to a report prepared by Aliyev's British attorney, Lord Lester, Aliyev was visited in prison by state security officials and ordered to confess to the murder. They said if he refused, Haji Mammadov, a disgraced former Interior Ministry official who had already confessed to a series of violent crimes committed between 1994 and 2005, would state in a court hearing that he had killed Huseynov on Aliyev's orders. Mammadov did so days later, without providing any details of the murder.

As for the embezzlement charges pending against Aliyev, Hasanli said that in a system like the Azerbaijani government no high-ranking minister's hands are spotless. "Was Farhad Aliyev a saint? To hold a high-level position in the Azeri government and not be involved in any degree of corruption is not possible. It's more a question of to what extent," he said. "But why target him? If you want to start prosecuting officials for corruption, you would have to start at the top. And we wouldn't have much of a government left when it was all over." Yet no evidence to back the corruption charges has been presented by state authorities. "Farhad Aliyev was arrested on political charges first," Hasanli said, adding that no state investigation has taken place. "The absence of evidence makes him a political prisoner."

During last year's visit to Washington, President Aliyev met with rights groups but dismissed allegations his government was holding anyone who could be classified as a political prisoner. One Western official in Baku said it is "too soon to say if he is a political prisoner," and that the U.S. government is awaiting due process. However, senior American lawmakers such as Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russ Feingold (D-Minn.) have petitioned the Azeri government and U.S. State Department, respectively, on Aliyev's behalf. They have requested his case be addressed according to the protocols of a political prisoner.

The State Department, for its part, has praised Aliyev's "commitment to reform" and cited his case in its 2005 human rights report as part of broader human rights and rule of law concerns in Azerbaijan. But so far it has stopped short of a formal request about the former minister's status.

By Jason Motlagh, a deputy foreign editor at United Press International

/www.worldpoliticswatch.com/