AZERBAIJAN: OVER 60 YOUTH DETAINED IN MAY 10

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAKU 000387 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/CARC E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/13/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM AJ SUBJECT: AZERBAIJAN: OVER 60 YOUTH DETAINED IN MAY 10 DEMONSTRATIONS REF: BAKU 366 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Donald Lu, for reasons 1.4 b and d ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: On May 10 dozens of young people, in two separate groups, organized demonstrations to mourn the victims of the April 30 shooting at the Oil Academy (reftel). At least five political party youth leaders were arrested before May 10 in a clear attempt by the GOAJ to prevent the protests. On the day, all participants, and several by-standers including the National Democratic Institute's (NDI) Chief of Party, were detained for several hours at police stations. All were released later in the afternoon without charges filed. Later in the evening four more youth group leaders were detained and then released. This sweep of arrests shows the police were on high alert to avoid any marring of the usual lavish official celebration of late President Heydar Aliyev's birthday . The arrests may have been counter-productive, however, as the many hours of detention allowed the separate youth groups to meet each other and talk about coordination of future activities. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) May 10 marked the "flower holiday" in Azerbaijan, an annual celebration of the late President Heydar Aliyev's birthday. In the days after the April 30 shooting at the State Oil Academy, however, many students and other young people objected to the government spending a reported 15 million AZN (18.3 million USD) on flowers for Heydar Aliyev Square, but having no official mourning for the Oil Academy victims. Different youth groups began to propose ideas for demonstrations on May 10 to counter the official celebration. On May 5 several members of the opposition party Musavat youth movement applied to the Baku Mayor's Office for permission to hold an event in downtown Baku, but this application was denied. ¶3. (C) On the evening of May 8 these different youth groups, from both opposition political parties and non-political groups, met to discuss a coordinated approach to May 10 at the office of the opposition Azerbaijan Democratic Party. (Note: This event can be viewed on youtube.com.) The groups could not come to an agreement, however, as the political groups wanted to hold a vocal demonstration, while the non-political groups (Dalga, AN, Ol, etc.) wanted to hold a silent ceremony. After this meeting, four opposition party members and one other student were arrested, and one additional Musavat member arrested the next morning. All were charged with resisting police, with one given a 10-day sentence and the others three-day sentences, or just enough time to keep them in prison until after May 10. ¶4. (C) On the afternoon of May 10 about 20 members of several non-political groups gathered at the Azerbaijan Music Academy, each holding two red carnations * the traditional sign of mourning in Azerbaijan. Several people observed the protest without participating, including press and the Chiefs of Party of both NDI and IRI, as well as some Azerbaijani staff from these organizations. After sitting there silently for about half an hour without any interference, the group decided to walk the few blocks from the Music Academy to the Oil Academy to lay their flowers. At this point, many police swarmed the group, arresting all the participants. A 15-year-old girl waiting for a bus nearby was also arrested, supposedly because she was wearing black, as the protestors were. An Azerbaijani national working for NDI, who was wearing a black t-shirt but did not carry flowers, was also arrested. The NDI Chief of Party Arjen De Wolff, a citizen of the Netherlands, questioned the police about the detention of his employee, and was also put into a police car. (Note: the NDI Chief told USAID that he was not a participant in the demonstration and was not wearing black.) In total, about 20 people were detained and taken to Nasimi District Police Station No. 22. ¶5. (C) At the same time, members of some political youth movements, as well as the non-political Youth Platform group, attempted to gather on the boulevard along the Caspian Sea. This area was crowded with police officers, and before any visible protest began, several were arrested. The organizers of this event then quickly moved the protest to Sahil square, BAKU 00000387 002 OF 002 which is also in Central Baku. At approximately 13:30 local between 30 and 40 people began to march through the square shouting "No to terror." They marched for about one minute before the police swarmed the groups and arrested all of them. These young people were treated very roughly while being detained. Poloff witnessed young women being pulled and pushed, with some being dragged by their hair. Other youth groups and well-known human rights defenders later reported to poloff that two young women and one young man were beaten severely in cars on the way to police station No. 39, and possibly later at the police station itself. The police station reported that 36 people were detained, but denied any physical harm had come to them. Embassy officers witnessed signs of only minor injuries. ¶6. (C) News of these arrests spread quickly throughout Azerbaijani civil society and the diplomatic community, despite no mention on the evening news or in government-operated newspapers. Embassy officials followed the situation from the police stations where the youth were detained, and placed calls to higher level officials to secure their release. The Charge specifically complained to the President's Foreign Policy Advisor, the Parliamentarian who chairs the Azeri delegation to the Council of Europe and the President's Political Analysis Advisor. After about three hours, the NDI observers were released from custody without any charges filed, as were some of the youth at police station No. 39. An hour later the rest of those arrested were released. Emin Milli of the AN Network reported that the police tried to make him sign an agreement that he would never organize a protest again, and when he refused they finally released him. COMMENT -------------- ¶7. (C) The GOAJ was on high alert to ensure that nothing marred the official festivities of Heydar Aliyev's birthday celebration. This prioritization of the Aliyev "personality cult", while the government remained mostly silent about the horrific events of April 30, was obviously noted by the youth groups and opposition forces. At the same time, while there are the beginnings of groups of young people resistant to the current regime, the youth groups were not organized enough to agree on a single event to show their frustration with the government. While the various events show more initiative than the official opposition parties can manage to muster, the May 10 events remained small and disparate, easily overwhelmed by the GOAJ's security apparatus. As one arrested person pointed out, however, the many hours spent in jail together allowed the previously unacquainted young people to get to know each other, and may allow for better coordination in the future. LU