Intiqam Aliyev

Intiqam Kamil oglu Aliyev (sometimes also spelled Intigam) (born 30 November 1962, Pushkin (now Bilasuvar), Azerbaijan SSR) is a human rights defender and lawyer in Azerbaijan.[1]

Along with other human rights activists, Aliyev was jailed in mid-2014 as part of a country-wide crackdown. In April 2015 the court sentenced him to 7.5 years in jail.[2] Aliyev's arrest is widely considered to have been politically motivated.[3] Aliyev had previously brought a number of cases against Azerbaijani authorities to the European Court of Human Rights.[4]

Prior to his arrest, Aliyev ran the Legal Education Society (LES).[1] On 22 April 2015, he was sentenced to seven and a half years’ imprisonment. He was found guilty of large-scale embezzlement and fraud, illegal business and tax evasion.[5] He was considered a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. On 28 March 2016, the Supreme Court ordered his release and he was freed same day.[6][7] On 28 March 2016, Supreme Court of Azerbaijan changed his prison sentence from seven years and six months to a five-year suspended sentence.[8]

Awards

• 2012: the Homo Homini Award for his work on human rights;He was chosen as the best human rights defender of 2012.[9]
• 2014 (October): the Andrei Sakharov Freedom Award of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, together with Leyla Yunus, Rasul Jafarov and other political prisoners in Azerbaijan.[10] Since he was in jail, the award was received by his children.
• 2015 (October): Human Rights Award, of the International Bar Association, for outstanding contribution to human rights.[11] Since he was in jail, the award was received by his children.
• 2016 (February): Human Rights Award, of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), for devoting "his life to protecting the rights of individuals against the repressive system of the Azerbaijani government" and providing for decades a "legal assistance and representation to the politically persecuted".[12][13] Since he was in jail, the award was received by his children.
• 2016: Civil Rights Defender of the Year Award, Civil Rights Defenders[14]

References

1. European Stability Initiative. "Intiqam Aliyev". Retrieved 4 September 2014.
2. "Baku Court Upholds Lawyer's Sentence". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 2019-02-14.
3. "Azerbaijani Rights Activist Jailed For Three Months". Radio Free Europe - Radio Liberty. 8 August 2014. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
4. "ECHR begins Communication on 11 Complaints during Parliamentary Elections in 2010". Contact. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
5. "AZERBAIJAN: THE REPRESSION GAMES: THE VOICES YOU WON'T HEAR AT THE FIRST EUROPEAN GAMES". Amnesty International. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
6. "В Азербайджані звільнили ще одного правозахисника". Human Rights. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
7. "Release of Azerbaijani Human Rights Lawyer Intigam Aliyev". U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
8. Status: Released
9. Azerbaijani ILIA project expert Intiqam Aliyev – the human rights defender of year 2012
10. Norwegian Helsinki Committee. "Andrei Sakharov Freedom Award to political prisoners in Azerbaijan". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
11. "HRI - Intigam Aliyev receives IBA Human Rights Award 2015 for outstanding contribution to human rights". Retrieved 2015-11-17.
12. CCBE (2016-02-04). "PRESS RELEASE : The CCBE Human Rights Award" (PDF). CCBE. CCBE. Retrieved 2016-02-04.
13. "İntiqam Əliyev: Bizim dəyərlər insan haqları, onların dəyərləri hakimiyyət hərisliyi və zorakılıq". VOA (in Azerbaijani). Retrieved 2016-02-04.
14. "Intigam Aliyev Civil Rights Defender Of The Year". Azadlıq Radiosu (in Azerbaijani). Retrieved 2019-11-20.