POLICE BRUTALITY IN NAKHCHIVAN VILLAGE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAKU 000017 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/CARC, DRL, EUR/ACE E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/08/2020 TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM PREL AJ SUBJECT: POLICE BRUTALITY IN NAKHCHIVAN VILLAGE REF: 09 BAKU 990 Classified By: Charge Robert Garverick, for reasons 1.4 b and d. ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: On December 27, 28 and January 5, police allegedly arrested and mistreated hundreds of residents of a small village in the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan. The OSCE Office in Baku, through conversations with residents of the village now living in Baku, was able to confirm the basic facts of the case. Those facts show that police and internal troops used brutal tactics to quiet a town after several elders of the town were arrested for participating in the religious Ashura ceremony on December 27. As of January 8, the situation had begun to be resolved after the intervention of the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs. The Embassy expressed its concern over the incident to the GOAJ, and Poloff will travel to Nakhchivan to further investigate the events. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) Rumors are swirling through Azerbaijan regarding incidents of police brutality in the small village of Bananyar in the Nakhchivan exclave of Azerbaijan on December 27 and January 5. As an autonomous exclave without any free media save Radio Liberty, little reliable information about the events has reached Baku. However, an OSCE officer met on January 7 with approximately 40 residents of the village who are currently working in Baku, and who provided a readout of the incidents gained through mobile phone conversations with their families in the village. (NOTE: Landline phone service has been cut since January 5. End note.) ¶3. (C) These residents say that on December 27, which was the Shiite holy day of Ashura, many people of the town participated in the traditional mourning ceremony for the death of the Prophet Mohammed's grandson Huseyn. That evening, after the ceremony ended, police entered the town and arrested between 15 and 20 elderly men who had participated in the ceremony. These men were mistreated by the police. The following day, after relatives of the detainees failed to get their family members released, one son of detainee, Yusif Aliyev, set himself on fire in protest. People nearby put out the fire and took him to the main hospital in the capital of Nakhchivan. Contrary to early press reports that he died, his sister reported to the OSCE that the hospital in Nakhchivan did not have appropriate resources to treat him, so he was taken to Iran for better care. ¶4. (C) After the fire incident, several hundred residents of the village began to protest the continued detention of the elderly men. The police relented and later in the day let the men out. There was then a pause in any protest activity from December 28 to January 4, over the New Year's holiday. ¶5. (C) On the first work day after the holiday, January 5, approximately 200 police and another 200 troops from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who were wearing masks, raided the town and began indiscriminately beating people, including women. Residents report that most of the violence was committed by the masked troops, rather than the local police. OSCE contact reported that houses were ransacked and several may have been burned. Dozens of people were arrested again, including the sons of the local head of the opposition Popular Front Party, Rza Nuriyev. Nuriyev turned himself into police after his wife was also threatened with arrest. ¶6. (C) Since January 5 all of the women arrested were released, but dozens of men were kept in custody. OSCE also stated that police and internal troops have surrounded the town and cut phone lines and possibly the electricity. On January 7, however, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Viliyat Eyvazov traveled to the region, as he is from a nearby town, and reportedly had a relative who was beaten. Approximately 10 of the men were released on January 8, including the sons of Nuriyev, and the internal troops have now left the town. Reportedly hundreds of local police are still there, however, and approximately 20 men remain in custody. ¶7. (C) On January 7 Poloff spoke to the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs branch office in Nakhchivan, Al Alizade. BAKU 00000017 002 OF 002 Alizade said he did not have all the facts yet, but that he knew Yusif Aliyev was in Iran receiving medical treatment, and that "drunken villagers" pushed him to protest the closing of his shop, not the arrest of his father. Aliyev's sister flatly denies this version of events. Poloff conveyed the Embassy's concerns and asked for a complete investigation into the incident. The Embassy has also sent a diplomatic note expressing its concern to the MFA. Poloff will travel next week to Nakhchivan, along with diplomats from other Embassies, for a further investigation into the case. GARVERICK