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CHR Joint Letter Ilgar Mammadov

Contact Information and Letter

Please use the form below to add your signature to this joint letter:
His Excellency Ilham Aliyev
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan
Presidential Palace
Istiglaliyyat Street, 19
Baku, AZ1066, Republic of Azerbaijan
 
Your Excellency:
 
I am writing to you as the Chair of the Committee on Human Rights of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (the National Academies) in the United States to request your assistance with the case of Ilgar Mammadov, an Azerbaijani political scientist and former director of the Baku School of Political Studies, who is serving a seven-year sentence for peacefully expressing his opinions.  The Committee on Human Rights is joined in this request by ?? other distinguished members of the National Academies, who asked that their names be added to this letter.  As you can see from the number of signatories, Mr. Mammadov’s situation is of great concern to many Academy members.
 
Mr. Mammadov has been incarcerated since February 2013 for allegedly having organized and incited violent protests in northern Azerbaijan in January 2013.   In a unanimous judgment delivered in May 2014, however, the European Court of Human Rights found no reasonable basis for suspecting Mr. Mammadov of having committed the offenses concerned and stated that his arrest and detention violated a number of his fundamental human rights, including the right to be presumed innocent.  Moreover, based on its examination of the facts, the Court concluded that Mr. Mammadov was targeted for his role as a critic of the government.  We understand that the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, which is responsible for supervising implementation of the Court’s judgments, has requested Mr. Mammadov’s release without delay.
 
No doubt you share our concern about Mr. Mammadov’s ongoing imprisonment despite the decision of this prominent judicial body and our concerns about reliable reports that he has suffered ill-treatment at the hands of prison authorities.  As World Azerbaijanis Solidarity Day approaches, we respectfully ask you to use your good offices to ensure Mr. Mammadov’s immediate and unconditional release from prison.  In the interim, we ask that you guarantee his safety while in state custody and ensure that his treatment is in accordance with the U.N. Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules).
 
We thank you for your attention to this important matter.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
 
Martin Chalfie, Ph.D.
(2008 Nobel Laureate, Chemistry)
 
This letter will be sent to the following individuals:
His Excellency Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Copies to:
His Excellency Fikrat Mammadov, Minister of Justice of the Republic of Azerbaijan
His Excellency Elin Suleymanov, Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the United States
The Honorable Robert F. Cekuta, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Azerbaijan
 

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