CONVICTED MP HUSSEIN ABDULLAYEV SHARES HIS SIDE OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAKU 001151 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/19/2017 TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM INR AJ SUBJECT: CONVICTED MP HUSSEIN ABDULLAYEV SHARES HIS SIDE OF THE STORY REF: A. BAKU 327 ¶B. BAKU 337 ¶C. BAKU 430 Classified By: POL/ECON CHIEF JOAN POLASCHIK PER 1.4(B,D). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Former Member of Parliament (MP) Hussein Abdullayev -- arrested and convicted following a March 16 scuffle with fellow MP Fazail Aghamaly - shared his side of the story in a September 12 meeting. Abdullayev believes he was set up, arguing that Aghamaly initiated the fight after Abdullayev made it clear to the Parliamentary leadership that he planned to criticize the Prime Minister's annual report to Parliament against the leadership's wishes. Abdullayev believes that Minister of Internal Affairs Ramil Usubov also was linked to the arrest. Abdullayev claims that he has been followed and harassed by police since his release from prison; he also raised concerns about his medical condition, telling us that the GOAJ will no longer permit him to leave the country to receive medical treatment. Many observers link Abdullayev's arrest to the continuing rivalry between Minister of Internal Affairs Usubov and Minister of Emergency Situations Heydarov; others believe it was linked to a property deal gone sour. END SUMMARY ¶2. (U) On May 18, former independent MP Hussein Abdullayev was convicted of battery and hooliganism, for which he received a two-year suspended sentence. The Court of Appeals later upheld the initial Sabail District Court verdict, and the case is currently awaiting a Supreme Court hearing. Abdullayev was arrested after engaging in a fist fight with pro-government MP Fazail Aghamaly after Abdullayev criticized the Prime Minister's annual report on the GOAJ's performance in a March 16 parliamentary session. On March 17, in a vote of 79 to 15, Parliament voted to strip Abdullayev of his immunity; he was arrested the same day and detained for two months while the GOAJ investigated the case (reftels). After the May 18 ruling, Abdullayev was permitted to leave Azerbaijan twice to undergo spinal cord surgery in Munich, Germany. In both instances, he returned to Azerbaijan within the allotted time. AGHAMALY'S VERSION OF EVENTS -------------- ¶3. (C) MP Fazail Aghamaly told Poloff that the March 16 incident began when Abdullayev violated Parliament's rules of procedure by speaking longer than the three minutes that had been allocated to him. Aghamaly said that Abdullayev began jumping, shouting, and personally insulting Aghamaly and other MPs. Specifically, Aghamaly said that Abdullayev had called him a "jackass" and told him to "shut up and act like an MP," before insulting Aghamaly's female relatives. Aghamaly maintained that he "could not remember who hit whom first," but noted that Abdullayev is much smaller than him. (NOTE: In the television coverage of the incident, Aghamaly appears to have started the fight.) From the scuffle, Aghamaly said that he had sustained an injury to his left eye, which required 20 days of treatment. According to Aghamaly, Abdullayev is a "criminal," whom all the MPs had feared, but he said that Adbullayev had not expected anyone to react to his antics. Aghamaly concluded that Abdullayev's two-year suspended sentence was an adequate penalty for his actions. ABDULLAYEV'S SIDE OF THE STORY -------------- ¶4. (C) Former MP Hussein Abdullayev and his lawyer, Javanshir Suleymanov, recounted Abdullayev's version of the scuffle, arrest, conviction, and present situation, and briefed Poloff on the legal aspects of Abdullayev's case. Abdullayev said that he had planned in advance to criticize the Prime Minister's report, and had shared his speech with Speaker of Parliament Ogtay Asadov a week before the March 16 session. According to Abdullayev, Asadov had "recommended" that he not criticize the report. (NOTE: Emboffs had been permitted to observe Parliamentary sessions throughout the spring, but received a text message from Asadov's aide the night before stating that due to "technical difficulties," they would not be permitted access to the March 16 session. They were allowed into subsequent sessions.) He said that Aghamaly had hit him first, and claimed that Aghamaly later gave an interview to the BBC in which he admitted that he had struck Abdullayev first, and said that Abdullayev "had needed to be shut up for a long time." (NOTE: We were unable to verify that such an interview exists.) ¶5. (C) According to Suleymanov, the Prosecutor's charges against Abdullayev stipulate that he committed physical battery against two individuals. This, Suleymanov and BAKU 00001151 002 OF 003 Abdullayev argued, is ridiculous: who was the second person? Suleymanov said that he has asked the Prosecutor's office several times to identify the second "victim," but has not received a response. Further, he pointed out that the footage of the incident was very widely aired, and the footage showed only Abdullayev and Aghamaly. Suleymanov said that the allegation of physical battery against more than one individual resulted in Abdullayev losing his seat in Parliament; the charge for such an act against one individual does not bear the same legal penalties. ¶6. (C) Abdullayev said that during his time in Parliament, he had done a lot for Azerbaijani statehood. "I was a member of Parliament's Legal Policy and State Building Commission. If they can do this to me, what could they do to average citizens?" According to Abdullayev, if there were a "normal" Parliament for only six months, many of Azerbaijan's problems could be fixed. Abdullayev said that there are no independent MPs in Parliament, and that each Minister has installed six to seven MPs in the body. Further, he said that about five or six MPs receive money from the GOAJ to create "provocations" in Parliament; while he did not name any such individuals other than Aghamaly, he alluded to the "pocket" opposition parties with representation in Parliament. (NOTE: These are widely thought to include the Hope Party, the Civil Solidarity Party, and the Justice Party.) ¶7. (C) Abdullayev speculated that Minister of Internal Affairs Ramil Usubov had something to do with his arrest. Abdullayev said that earlier in the spring 2007 session, he had repeatedly raised the idea of calling Usubov to testify in Parliament regarding Haji Mammadov's kidnapping and extortion ring, which had operated within the Ministry for more than a decade. Abdullayev does not believe Usubov's public claim to have not known about the gang, and wanted to question the Minister. According to Abdullayev, many other MPs warned him to drop the issue, including Aghamaly. (NOTE: Usubov is widely rumored to be in line with Presidential Chief of Staff Ramiz Mehdiyev.) Abdullayev believes that his removal from Parliament was intended to intimidate the other MPs, which he said has worked. ¶8. (C) The two detailed their concerns over Abdullayev's medical condition; Abdullayev claims to suffer from a spinal disorder which cannot be treated in Azerbaijan. Although he has been permitted to leave the country twice for surgery since receiving his sentence, Abdullayev said the court will no longer permit him to do so. Suleymanov argued that the court has no reason to deny Abdullayev permission to leave the country, as nothing has changed since the prior two rulings to allow him to go. Abdullayev explained that there are specialists in Munich, Germany, with the expertise to treat his condition, and because of the equipment required, they would be unable to treat him in Azerbaijan. Suleymanov said that he is looking into filing a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on the grounds that depriving one of medical treatment can be considered torture, which he claims also was the case during Abdullayev's two-month detention. Recalling the extensive press coverage during his first trip to Munich, speculating that he would not return to Azerbaijan, Abdullayev chuckled, saying "they (the GOAJ) didn't want me to return." In fact, he said that after that trip, immigration officials had been reluctant to allow him to re-enter the country. (NOTE: On September 17, the Court of Appeals overturned the previous decision, and ruled to allow Abdullayev to leave the country once more.) ¶9. (C) Abdullayev said that since the day of his arrest, his and his relatives' phone conversations have been recorded by the GOAJ. He also reports being followed and harassed by police officers. No matter how careful his driver is, Abdullayev said that police always manage to find some reason to pull them over and question them. According to Abdullayev, this is the GOAJ's attempt to exert psychological pressure on him. (NOTE: In August, Abdullayev sent an appeal to Elchin Behbudov, the head of Azerbaijan's Committee against Torture, complaining of police harassment. On August 17, Behbudov told Poloff that Abdullayev was frightened and hiding at his dacha.) ¶10. (C) Although Abdullayev did not rule out future political activity, he said that he would remain focused on his music until the situation is resolved. He said that if given the chance to reclaim his Parliamentary seat, or to run for a seat in a future election, he would do so. Suleymanov said that if the ECHR overturns the Azerbaijani courts' ruling, the GOAJ would be required to reinstate Abdullayev's mandate, which could be tricky if the seat is filled before that time. (NOTE: That would likely be the case, as Azerbaijani cases tend to take several years to be processed through the ECHR. BAKU 00001151 003 OF 003 The next parliamentary elections are scheduled for 2010, but the Central Election Commission may call elections for vacant seats at any time. As of September 12, head of the Central Election Commission's International Relations Department Rovsat Gasimov said there are no immediate plans to do so.) COMMENT -------------- ¶11. (C) Abdullayev's case proves that in Azerbaijan, as in the cases of former Ministers Farhad Aliyev and Ali Insanov, connections and financial means matter little if the wrong person is crossed. Prior to the March 16 scuffle, Abdullayev was widely viewed as well-connected within the GOAJ; he was rumored to have deployed gangs of GOAJ-affiliated "sportsmen" to picket opposition offices in the run-up to the 2005 parliamentary election. At the time of his arrest, Abdullayev was believed to have been a victim of the long-running rivalry between Minister of Internal Affairs Usubov and Minister of Emergency Situations Kamalladdin Heydarov. Many observers also speculated that Abdullayev's arrest may have been linked to a property deal gone sour. Given the extremely closed nature of political deliberations within Azerbaijan's ruling elite, we likely will never know exactly what happened. However, Abdullayev's arrest and subsequent treatment raise rule of law and human rights concerns. We will continue to monitor the case. We will continue to monitor Parliamentary sessions, meet regularly with our contact MPs, and report developments. BIO NOTES -------------- ¶12. (C) Hussein Abdullayev is an well-known composer and pianist, as well as a prominent businessman, with a large wealth accumulated from selling metals. Although he served in Parliament as an independent MP, until the March 16 events, he was considered to be closely aligned with the GOAJ. Poloff met Abdullayev in his studio, which is a large, nicely decorated space in a very expensive downtown Baku location, fitted with what looks like state of the art recording equipment. In stark contrast to the seriousness of the tale he wove and the earlier reports that he was scared and hiding, during the meeting Abdullayev was relaxed and witty. Abdullayev speaks fluent Azerbaijani and Russian, and limited English. ¶13. (C) Fazail Aghamaly founded the Ana Veten ("Motherland") Party in 1990, after resigning his position as secretary in the Popular Front (which at the time, was a movement, not a party, led by Albufaz Elchibey) due to a disagreement with the Front's position on the tragic Black January events. While Ana Veten claims to be an "opposition" party, it is aggressively pro-government and widely speculated to have been the GOAJ's own creation. Ana Veten's two MPs, Aghamaly and Zahid Orujov, are among the most outspoken MPs, and often broach topics that would benefit the GOAJ but are too controversial for ruling party MPs to test themselves, such as their proposal in 2006 to extend the presidential term to seven years. Ana Veten is not visibly active in politics outside of Parliament. Aghamaly told Poloff that Ana Veten currently has approximately 14,000 members, with 62 regional branches. DERSE