FARHAD ALIYEV'S WIFE CLAIMS AUTHORITIES SEEK

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAKU 001267

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/24/2016
TAGS: PREL PHUM KDEM AJ
SUBJECT: FARHAD ALIYEV'S WIFE CLAIMS AUTHORITIES SEEK
CONFESSION FOR PARDON; DETAINED ALIYEV AIDE COMMITS SUICIDE

REF: BAKU 904

Classified By: DCM Jason P. Hyland for reasons 1.4 b and d.


1. (C) In an August 23 meeting with Poloff, Sabina Aliyeva,
wife of detained ex-minister Farhad Aliyev, alleged that
mid-level GOAJ officials have been pressuring Farhad Aliyev
to sign a confession in return for being pardoned. Aliyeva
claims that her husband has rejected the confession in part
because it says that the U.S. Government was colluding with
Aliyev in his alleged effort to foment a coup, an allegation
Aliyev and his wife unequivocally deny.


2. (C) Aliyeva told Poloff that she has met with unnamed GOAJ
officials in an effort to cut some sort of a deal or at least
dissuade them from prosecuting her husband for a crime she
says he did not commit, but the meetings thus far have come
to no avail. Aliyeva also said that she has fired one of the
lawyers on her husband's defense team, Irada Javadova, and
hired Jamil Hasanli, an independent (pro-opposition) Member
of Parliament who comes from the same region in southern
Azerbaijan as Aliyev. With Hasanli's appointment Aliyeva
hopes to give the Committee to Protect Aliyev's Rights new
impetus and a higher profile. Poloff told Aliyeva that the
USG position was that Azerbaijan has a positive obligation to
uphold international standards for the rule of law in the
investigation against Farhad Aliyev and all the detainees
accused of plotting a coup.


3. (SBU) Separately, the Ministry of Justice and Prosecutor
General's office reported publicly August 25 that former
Ministry of Economic Development official and Aliyev aide,
Alihuseyn Saliyev, committed suicide August 24 in hospital.
The press had begun reporting August 24 this news. Saliyev
was one among the group of former Ministry of Economic
Development officials arrested and accused of allegedly
plotting a coup last fall in collusion with Farhad Aliyev,
former Health Minister Ali Insanov and Presidential Aide Akif
Muradverdiyev. Saliyev was in detention at the Justice
Ministry's hospital receiving care for hernia and reportedly
slit his wrists in the early morning hours. Opposition
newspapers blamed the GOAJ prolonged detention of Alihusyen
and what it called a spurious investigation into the alleged
coup plot by Farhad Aliyev for driving Alihuseyn to suicide.
Human rights monitors will visit the hospital and morgue to
verify the events and investigate further this weekend.


4. (C) Comment. Something is clearly afoot in terms of the
case. Aliyeva, who previously has been visibly distraught
while discussing her husband's case, was relaxed and made a
point of reassuring Poloff of her own well-being. Her
allegations that Aliyev was being pressured to implicate the
USG strikes us as an effort to gain increased USG engagement
on Farhad Aliyev's case. We will continue to press for due
process and respect for basic civil liberties of all the
defendants in this case. End Comment.
DERSE