Ron Synovitz

KYIV — Rights activists are criticizing the arrest in Ukraine of an Azerbaijani opposition journalist on the basis of an Interpol alert that was requested by Azerbaijan’s government.

International media freedom and human rights groups say Fikret Huseynli’s case highlights how Interpol is abused by authoritarian regimes to crack down on their political opponents abroad.

They describe Huseynli’s arrest as the latest in a series of cases outside of Azerbaijan targeting journalists and rights activists who are critical of the government in Baku.

Huseynli, a self-exiled reporter who formerly worked for Azerbaijan’s opposition Azadliq newspaper, fled to the Netherlands after he was stabbed, beaten, and left for dead by unknown assailants in Baku in 2006.

Azadliq has said the attack was retaliation for its reports about alleged government corruption in Baku.

Huseynli was granted political asylum by the Dutch government when he arrived there in early 2008 and has since obtained Dutch citizenship.

Huseynli now works from his adopted home for the Turan Information Agency, a Baku-based news website that is among the last opposition news organizations not to have been shut down by President Ilham Aliyev’s government.

Red-Notice Detention

Huseynli was detained at Boryspil International Airport near Kyiv on October 14 as he was preparing to board a flight for Germany.

Ukraine’s Border Guard Service said it arrested Huseynli because his name appeared on Interpol’s database of wanted persons.

The “red-notice” alert from Interpol informed Ukrainian police that Baku had issued warrants for Huseynli’s arrest on charges of alleged fraud, falsification of official documents, and illegal migration.

On October 17, a local court in Boryspil ruled that Huseynli should remain in custody at least until November 4 while judicial officials in Kyiv consider the merits of Baku’s extradition request.

On October 19, the Prosecutor-General’s Office in Kyiv confirmed that it was examining the Azerbaijani arrest warrants as part of its “extradition test.”

“We have up to 60 days to complete this examination,” the prosecutor-general’s spokeswoman, Larysa Sarhan, told RFE/RL.

A date for an extradition hearing has not yet been set, Sarhan said.

Huseynli’s defense attorney, Dmytro Mazurok, told RFE/RL he will appeal the Boryspil court’s arrest order against Huseynli.

Mazurok said he also will ask the Ukrainian Prosecutor-General’s Office to use its powers to nullify the ruling on the grounds that “circumstances should prevent” Huseynli’s extradition to Azerbaijan.

Interpol System Abused?

Washington-based Freedom House says Ukraine should immediately release Huseynli and stop any extradition procedures against him that are based on warrants issued by Azerbaijan.

The director of Freedom House’s Eurasia programs, Marc Behrendt, says Interpol’s alert “reflects Azerbaijan’s harassment of journalists rather than any actual criminal offense” by Huseynli.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/azerbaijan-ukraine-interpol-alert-huseynli-baku-abuse/28804385.html?ltflags=mailer