The Voice of Mirza Xazar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

STATEMENT ON THE REFERENDUM IN THE REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN
18 March 2009

Referendum in an atmosphere of intimidation and fear

 

Baku, 19 March 2009. The Referendum over Constitutional amendments in the Republic of Azerbaijan took place in an atmosphere of intimidation of voters and of all those who opposed the reform of the Constitution. The Norwegian Helsinki Committee has listened to numerous witnesses recounting how they have been subjected to pressure to coerce them to go the vote during yesterdays’ poll. The hastily called referendum was never subjected to a meaningful public debate, which would have allowed for raising any relevant concerns related to the Constitutional reforms. The speedy procedure also puts into questions the legality of the called referendum.

 

The Constitutional reform put to referendum contains as many as 41 amendments and additions to 29 articles of the Constitution. The referendum covers a wide range of issues with no apparent common theme. In the case of a referendum, all voters are in need of thorough information, and the campaign period should allow for discussion of the pros and contras of each amendment. Unfortunately, this has not been the case in the period leading up to the referendum.

 

The amendment causing the highest concern is the removal of the two-term limit of the President of the article 101(V).

 

The Norwegian Helsinki Committee believes that the abolishment of the two-term limit of the President of the Republic will contribute to further consolidation of powers in a country where power is already concentrated. The core of the rule of law is the separation of powers. In Azerbaijan, as is also the case in other republics, power is concentrated in the hands of the President, while that of the legislature or the judiciary is relatively weaker. Therefore, the regular change of regime through the process of election is the method to prevent too strong a concentration of powers in the hands of the President. By removing the limitation of terms, Azerbaijan is moving away from European governance practices. In Europe, presidency without limitation of terms exists only in the Republic of Belarus, often called ‘the last dictatorship in Europe’.

 

The Norwegian Helsinki Committee is also very concerned about the additions to the articles 32 (III) regarding the Right to personal immunity after which the Constitution now provides that “no one shall be followed, filmed, photographed, recorded, or subjected to any other similar actions without his or her knowledge or despite his or her disapproval, except for cases established by law”. The article opens to a wide interpretation of the right to privacy, which in turn could be used in practice to exclude unwelcome journalists from reporting on events of public interest.

 

In Azerbaijan, the practice of impeding the freedom of expression is already a matter of serious concern, and the existing legislation has been frequently misused the to raise defamation charges against journalists critical to the government. Article 32 (III) may open further such abuse. As an example, the photographic documentation of a police official abusing a citizen may be refused publication under the pretext of personal immunity, or, in the case of publication, the journalist and media outlet may be subject to administrative or criminal responsibility.

 

The killing of the prominent editor Elmar Huseynov in 2005 remains unsolved. The journalists Qanimat Zahidov, Eynulla Fatullayev, Mushfig Huseynov and Novruzali Mammedov have been sentenced to long prison terms and are considered prisoners of conscience.

 

The Norwegian Helsinki Committee believes that basic conditions for democracy and freedom of choice is not present in Azerbaijan. This requires a vivid public debate free of fear for repercussions, a free press and equal conditions for all political forces in the country.

 

EURASIA INSIGHT

Mina Muradova 3/17/09

Azerbaijani citizens will hold a constitutional referendum on March 18 that may well seal the fate of the country’s democratization process. The key amendment up for public approval concerns the lifting of presidential term limits.

In all, voters will decide on 41 amendments to 29 articles of Azerbaijan’s constitution, touching on issues ranging from the right to privacy to freedom of media. Amendments with a majority "yes" vote will be adopted, provided that 25 percent of Azerbaijan’s more than 4.9 million voters take part in the referendum.

Most domestic and international attention has focused on provision on removing presidential term limits. Critics say the amendment, if approved, will effectively guarantee that the incumbent, Ilham Aliyev, son of the late president Heydar Aliyev, will become president-for-life.

"This referendum has only one purpose . . . to perpetuate the Aliyevs’ power," declared Isa Gambar, head of the opposition Musavat Party in a March 14 meeting with voters in Sumgayit, not far from Baku. "I call on you to take a break on March 18. Do not go to the polling stations and say ’No’ to the Aliyevs and their lawlessness by this action."

In a March 16 statement, the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission, which monitors member-states’ constitutional changes, posited that the lack of restraints on President Aliyev’s current powers means that "unlimited re-election of a President is a step back, in terms of democratic achievements." Belarus is the only European presidential republic that does not limit the number of consecutive terms.

Term limits, the commission continued, are "meant to limit the risk of negative consequences for democracy arising from the fact that a same person has the possibility of occupying the presidency for an excessive period of time."

The fact that the proposed amendment poses the question in terms of extending the president’s term "during a state of war" further complicates the issue, the commission wrote. Azerbaijan officially considers itself to be at war with Armenia over the breakaway territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

One senior Yeni Azerbaijan Party parliamentarian, however, countered that the Venice Commission’s opinions carry little weight. "The Azerbaijani Constitution is being amended under transparent conditions. Azerbaijan took European countries’ constitutions into account while amending the constitution," stated Ali Huseynov, chairman of the Azerbaijani parliament’s State Institutions and Legal Policy Committee, on March 16. "We did not consider it necessary to apply to the [Council of Europe’s] Venice Commission," the APA news agency reported Huseynov as saying.

One international law expert criticized the referendum process as illegitimate. "It started one month after the presidential elections, but during the election neither the main candidate [Ilham Aliyev], nor his representatives announced their intention to amend the constitution," argued Erkin Gadirli. "It is dishonest towards voters who, as it seems, voted for a candidate who had hidden plans."

The Constitutional Court’s decision to hold the referendum was made on President Aliyev’s birthday, December 24, he continued, terming the ruling "absolutely politically motivated." The high court’s eight judges, who are presidential appointees, "became hostages of a situation that affects their independence," Gadirli said. Under the proposed amendment, the court would decide when the president’s term can be extended.

Meanwhile, both the Venice Commission and the non-governmental organization Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center have taken issue with the lack of public discourse surrounding the referendum.

The Azerbaijani public is "very little" informed about the vote, noted the EMDS Center on Mach 15; a situation that the NGO attributes to "the absence of freedoms of assembly, speech and press." Violations observed during the run-up to the referendum range from arrests of anti-referendum activists to the removal of anti-referendum posters from public places, the group said.

The Venice Commission noted that political groups have regretted "the insufficient consultation" which has taken place before the vote and "the limited" public discussion on the pros and cons of the various amendments proposed.

The lack of debate was among the reasons cited by the opposition parties and non-governmental organizations for voters to boycott the referendum, as announced on March 10. The 28-day campaign period was not adequate for disseminating any different point of view about the proposed amendments, they argued.

The government, however, is shrugging off all criticism. "The opposition does not have any alternative opinions or concrete position regarding the referendum. Therefore, they decided to boycott the referendum," stated Elnur Aslanov, head of the presidential administration’s Policy Analysis and Information Department. "It shows the opposition’s indecision and lack of scruples. Their decision will not have any impact on the results of the referendum."

Countered Lala Shovkat, leader of the Liberal Party, on March 14: "The constitution is not a suit that everyone can destroy and alter for himself."

Editor's Note: Mina Muradova is a freelance reporter based in Baku.

Posted March 17, 2009 © Eurasianet
http://www.eurasianet.org

Information Centre
CAUCASUS – EASTERN EUROPE (ICCEE),
Tel. +420/724 938 783, +420/775 581 100, +420/603 317 078
Email: pelivans@volny.cz ; hakob@orer.cz

For immediate release

Czech Constitutional Court Is Asked to Question Hillary Clinton on RFE/RL

(Prague, 12 March 2009) – Hillary Clinton who as the serving Secretary of State sits on the Board of Directors of the Prague-based Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), might be asked to testify before Constitutional Court on employment practices of that U.S.-funded radio station in Czech Republic.

Petition to question Hillary Clinton is submitted to Constitutional Court by Snjezana Pelivan, Croatian citizen suing in that court RFE/RL for infringement of her labor and human rights resulting from violation by RFE/RL the legislative sovereignty of the Czech Republic, its host country.

Armenian citizen Anna Karapetyan brought similar charges against RFE/RL earlier this month in the Supreme Court. The plaintiffs, former employees of RFE/RL, which is subordinate to Broadcasting Board of Governors in Washington, a governmental agency overseeing all U.S. nonmilitary international broadcasting, are suing RFE/RL for practicing national discrimination in labor relations with its non-American and non-Czech employees.

Broadcasting in 28 languages, the nationals of 20 RFE/RL target countries – Afghanistan, Armenia, fm. Yugoslavia, Iraq, Iran, Russia, states of Central Asia, etc. – compose the bulk of RFE/RL total personnel in the Czech Republic. Their uniform employment agreements with RFE/RL effectively deny them any protection of U.S. and Czech labor laws. Official Policies of RFE/RL allow unmotivated terminations of such foreign employees at any time for any reason without informing them why the employment was terminated.

Czech newspaper Lidove noviny, Prague, wrote in editorial commentary “Equality With Precondition. Practice of Free Europe Contradicts Its Ideals”: “Employees are divided in three castes… That situation, as it seems, is brutally abused by the management of the radio station. With foreign employees from the third caste the propagators of democracy deal as colonial power with rightless aborigines.”

Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) is appointed by the President “with the advice and consent of the Senate”. Secretary of State is BBG member ex officio. By law, BBG collectively serves as RFE/RL Board of Directors and “makes all major policy determinations governing the operations of RFE/RL.” Also by law, “United States international broadcasting … shall be consistent with the broad foreign policy objectives of the United States.”

Petitioning Constitutional Court to question Hillary Clinton, Snjezana Pelivan notes that after Mrs. Clinton became on January 22, 2009, the member of BBG and RFE/RL Board of Directors, RFE/RL’s “discriminative to foreigners Policies and practices remain the same”. Hillary Clinton’s testimony should clarify if RFE/RL Policies, “which violate labor (employment protection) and human rights (national equality) of RFE/RL foreign workers in the Czech Republic and, thus, contradict Czech labor laws, are dictated by the ‘broad foreign policy objectives of the United States’.”

Commenting on lawsuits against RFE/RL in Czech Republic, an Armenian daily AZG (“People”), Yerevan, wrote recently: “These legal cases are a stamp of shame, a stigma on the history of well-respected Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which has supported democracy for decades.” The article was titled “Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) Betrays Its Ideals” http://www.azg.am/EN/2009021204

President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are expected on April 4th and 5th to be in Czech Republic holding presently rotating presidency in the Council of European Union.

# # #

ICCEE is a non-governmental non-profit organization established in Prague in 1999. ICCEE is the publisher of the main Armenian magazine in Europe, Orer (Days).

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The CTK News Agency also reported on this issue in the following News Item:

Sacked Croatian journalist feels harmed by RFE
ČTK /

12 March 2009

(NOTE: The CTK (Mr. Karel Petrak) granted us permission to re-print this news story)

Brno, March 11 (CTK) - Croatian journalist Snjezana Pelivan, dismissed by the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), demands that the Czech Constitutional Court (US) question U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the proceedings over her complaint, Pelivan's lawyer David Uhlir told CTK Wednesday.

Pelivan worked in the Prague RFE/RL office and she was given a notice in 2004 that was, according to her account, not properly explained, Uhlir said.

The U.S.-sponsored radio station treated its staff from the third countries in a discriminatory and anti-constitutional way, Uhlir said.

Before the Czech Republic joined the EU, the RFE/RL staffers who were not from the USA or the Czech Republic were insufficiently protected against immediate and unsubstantiated sackings, Uhlir said.

This was the case of not only Pelivan, but also of Armenian Anna Karapetyan, another client of Uhlir, the lawyer said.

Uhlir said the foreigners who work in the Czech Republic for foreign companies deserved the same protection as other employees.

Uhlir said that Clinton's testimony before the Czech Constitutional Court was rather hypothetical. In her position, she enjoys diplomatic immunity and she can refuse the testimony, Uhlir said.

Pelivan said that Clinton might make it clear in the court whether the approach to the employees was dictated by the aim of the general U.S. foreign policy.

Pelivan is demanding the cancellation of earlier verdicts that rejected her complaint.

According to the complaint, there were three groups of employees in the Czech RFE/RL office. The first consisted of U.S. nationals subjected to the U.S. law. The second included Czech citizens with whom the radio station concluded work contracts according to the Czech law and who were protected by the Labour Code.

The third group consisted of foreigners from the third countries, who were, according to Pelivan, disadvantaged.

The RFE/RL broadcasts to 20 countries. It has its headquarters in Prague.

Source: http://praguemonitor.com/2009/03/12/sacked-croatian-journalist-feels-harmed-rfe