in Russian — https://miaban.ru/info/russia/aboszoda-20-4-2019/

This Appeal was written by F. Aboszoda on April 20, 2019, when he was in the Detention facility of the State Security Service of Baku. Later he was sent to serve his sentence in the Gobustan prison. The text is published by the Coordinating Council of Russian-Armenian Organizations in Russian and translated into English. When reprinting in whole or in part, reference to the source is required. Information about the Case of Aboszoda — here.

To

• The UN Secretary General
• The President of the United States
• The US Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassadors in Moscow and Baku
• The Secretary General of the Council of Europe
• The European Court of Human Rights
• All International and European Human Rights Organizations
• The International Committee of the Red Cross

From Abbasov Fakhraddin Farman oglu (Fakhraddin Aboszoda),

born in 1956, Talysh by nationality, one of the leaders of the Talysh National Movement, a scientist and analyst, held in the Detention facility of the State Security Service of Azerbaijan,

APPEAL

Dear friends! Together with my family, wife and two sons, in October 2008, I was forced to emigrate to Russia in order to avoid imminent arrest. In 2012, my family broke up — my wife’s nerves broke down, and she left us and returned to Azerbaijan. In 2010 the passports of my sons Rashad and Ulvi expired. I wanted to send them to Azerbaijan in order to get new passports, but high-ranking representatives of the Kremlin Administration told me in a private conversation that «if you send your sons to Azerbaijan, you will not see them again!» And in 2012 my Azerbaijani passport expired. Therefore, in 2010, we applied to the Migration Service of the Moscow Region with a request to grant us refugee status for political reasons. Six months later, we were denied such status, but in June 2011 we were granted temporary asylum on the territory of the Russian Federation (RF).

Following this, we decided to take Russian citizenship. In February 2014, all three of us received a residence permit in Russia for a period of 5 years — until February 26, 2019. At the same time, in June 2014, all three of us refused Azerbaijani citizenship by a notary and sent notarized statements to the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Moscow. But, alas, to this day the authorities of Azerbaijan has not deprived us of our citizenship and stubbornly continued its attempts to obtain my extradition to Azerbaijan. And the Russian authorities refused to grant us Russian citizenship! Thus, without any passport in hand, we were held hostage on the territory of the Russian Federation, since we had no right to leave the country.

On July 14, 2018 Sabail District Court of city Baku made a decision on my arrest in absentia and, on the basis of this decision, the General Prosecutor’s Office of Azerbaijan sent a request to the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation with a request for my extradition.

Having learned about this, on September 6, 2018, I voluntarily came to the Police station of the Lyubertsy District of the Moscow region, where we were registered. The police took me to the Prosecutor’s office of city Lyubertsy, where the assistant prosecutor took an explanation from me for 5 hours in accordance with the request of Azerbaijan. In the request, two points were indicated as an accusation against me: 1) incitement of ethnic hatred; 2) calls to violate the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. After talking with me, the prosecutor found out that these accusations were literally sucked from the finger and refused to extradite me to Azerbaijan. After that, he went to the prosecutor of the city Lyubertsy to inform him of their decision. But after meeting with the prosecutor, he said that «we must arrest you for 48 hours.» When I wanted to know the reason, he openly stated: «An order was received from the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation that we should arrest you.» Thus, I ended up in the Detention facility of the city Lyubertsy, and in the morning of the next day – September 7, 2018, the Lyubertsy City Court arrested me for a month, and then extended this period until March 6, 2019. During this time, the Russian prosecutor’s office conducted an investigation.

On February 26, 2019, the term of my residence permit in the territory of the Russian Federation expired, and at the same time the term of my passport registration expired. But within the timeframe established by law — two months before that, I applied to the Main Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Moscow Disctrict for the extension of my residence permit and passport registration. Until February 27, 2019, when I was deported from the Russian Federation, I did not receive a response to my applications!

On February 27, 2019, accompanied by four young guys of athletic build, who for some reason called themselves «bailiffs,» and two police captains I was taken to the Prosecutor’s office of the city Lyubertsy and through the backyard was led into the conference hall. There, the prosecutor handed me the decree of the RF General Prosecutor’s Office, where it was written in part: “The RF General Prosecutor’s Office refuses to extradite F.F. Abbasov to Azerbaijan and frees him from arrest ”.

When I told the prosecutor that «I was arrested by the court, how can the Prosecutor’s office release me from arrest?», he replied that «these young guys will explain everything to you!»

I demanded that my attorneys be invited, but in response to this, the young guys accompanying me forced me into a bus and brought me to the Lyubertsy City Court, and through the back yard I was taken to the 3rd floor — to a room at the end of the corridor! There, one of the police captains approached me and introduced himself as an employee of the Migration Department of the Moscow Region and wanted to take an explanation from me about my violation of the migration legislation of the Russian Federation. I refused to testify in writing and demanded that they call my attorneys.

After that, I was taken to the courtroom, where judge Khodunova announced that she would hold this session, where the issue of my violation of the migration legislation of the Russian Federation would be considered. I protested, saying that I had not violated the law, since I had not received an answer to my statements at the Main Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Moscow District and, secondly, without my attorneys I would not begin to answer the judge’s questions.

The judge publicly refused to call my attorneys and announced a break until 14.00. Despite my persistent requests, no one called my attorneys. Until 14.00, I was in that room. At 14:00 I was again invited to the courtroom, but I categorically refused to go there. Then judge Khodunova herself came to our room and announced that she would immediately hold a session! I got up and wanted to leave the room, but two of those young guys stood at the door of the room and did not let me out. I hit one of them twice, but the others came up, twisted my arms back and in the same position the judge read out the prepared text of the court decision: “To fine F.F. Abbasov for 5 thousand rubles for violation of the migration legislation of the Russian Federation and subject him to controlled deportation to Azerbaijan within five days».

Following this, those «forensic experts» brought me to Sheremetyevo airport and at about 24.00 handed me over to representatives of Azerbaijan. At the airport in Baku, Azerbaijan State Security Service (SSS) officers arrested me and took me to the SSS Detention facility.

On the morning of February 28, 2019, the Investigative Group, created by the State Security Service, began interrogations. The investigator acquainted me with the decision of the Sabail Court of Baku, dated July 14, 2018, I immediately realized that it was illegal, since according to this decision I had already been arrested in the Russian Federation and had been under arrest for about 6 months. A prosecutor’s investigation was carried out and the Russian Prosecutor’s office, not finding corpus delicti in my actions, released me from arrest! I deliberately did not raise this issue to the investigator and was dragging out time, and when a month later this issue was raised by me, everyone was confused! At first they said that they say all this is legal and complies with local legislation, but then, on the 38th day of my arrest in Baku, I received a copy of the decision of the Sabail court dated September 14, 2018 and within three days filed a complaint to the Court of Appeal of Baku, in order to be able to appeal against my illegal arrest (according to the same decision, a person cannot be arrested twice!) in the European Court of Human Rights.

I must note that for two weeks after my arrest I had no connection with the outside world, and only two weeks later my relatives visited me. During all this time, I was provided with a state lawyer. Only a month later, my relatives were able to hire an independent attorney for me, because, all lawyers refused to take my case being afraid from the “almighty” State Security Service! Finally, one of them agreed, but during the first meeting with me he said: «If I write a complaint to the European Court, they will kill me!»

The Court of Appeal of Baku did not even want to hear my arguments and upheld the decision of the Sabail court, and the most interesting thing began after that. The investigation team simply forbade my lawyer to write a complaint to the European Court! And to this day I have not received a copy of the decision of the Court of Appeal held on April 15, 2019!

Thus, I am still deprived of the opportunity to write a complaint to the European Court. My conversations with my attorney are being eavesdropped and recorded, but even without this, the Investigative Group is forcing my attorney to lay out all the content of our conversations in front of them!

In such conditions, when the members of the Investigative Group in a rather open form hint to me that “your fate has long been a foregone conclusion”, when for the second month I am under illegal arrest, I decided to apply to the world community and international organizations with this Appeal. Based on the above facts, I call on the United Nations, the Council of Europe and all international organizations to condemn the actions of the Russian and Azerbaijani authorities and demand from them the restoration of legality and respect for my rights! The whole world should know that I was arrested just for my own opinion and for criticizing the policy of the Azerbaijani authorities towards not only the Talysh people, but also the rest of the country’s population! The Investigative Group does not have a single fact and evidence that could prove my guilt in any way.

Secondly, I ask the President of the United States, Mr. D. Trump, to take my issue under personal control, apply the new Magnitsky Act to Russia and impose new sanctions on those Russian officials who are to blame for my tragedy! I ask to instruct the US ambassadors to Russia and Azerbaijan to investigate this matter in place. My attorneys in Moscow can provide them with all the necessary documents. I ask the US Ambassador to Azerbaijan to visit the Detention facility and find out in place all the details of my being under arrest.

Thirdly, I ask the European Court of Human Rights, due to the fact that I am deprived of the opportunity to write a complaint about unlawful deprivation of liberty, to accept my Appeal as my official complaint and to understand this issue, to decide on my immediate release from arrest and payment of compensation to me in the amount of two million euros in moral compensation!

Fourthly, I want the entire world community to know that if something fatal happens to me within the walls of the isolation ward, it will happen against my will, since I am full of strength and ready to continue my struggle, and I have no intention of leave this world!

Fifth, I have no claims or complaints about the employees of the Detention facility and the local conditions!

Gentlemen! I hope the world community hears my alarm signal and protects me from illegal persecution by the Azerbaijani authorities!

Thanks for your attention!

(signature)

Abbasov Fakhraddin Farman oglu (Fakhraddin Aboszoda)

Azerbaijan, Baku, SSS Detention facility

April 20, 2019