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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAKU 001151 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/19/2017 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM INR AJ
SUBJECT: CONVICTED MP HUSSEIN ABDULLAYEV SHARES HIS SIDE OF 
THE STORY 
 
REF: A. BAKU 327 
     ¶B. BAKU 337 
     ¶C. BAKU 430 
 
Classified By: POL/ECON CHIEF JOAN POLASCHIK PER 1.4(B,D). 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY:  Former Member of Parliament (MP) Hussein 
Abdullayev -- arrested and convicted following a March 16 
scuffle with fellow MP Fazail Aghamaly - shared his side of 
the story in a September 12 meeting.  Abdullayev believes he 
was set up, arguing that Aghamaly initiated the fight after 
Abdullayev made it clear to the Parliamentary leadership that 
he planned to criticize the Prime Minister's annual report to 
Parliament against the leadership's wishes.  Abdullayev 
believes that Minister of Internal Affairs Ramil Usubov also 
was linked to the arrest.  Abdullayev claims that he has been 
followed and harassed by police since his release from 
prison; he also raised concerns about his medical condition, 
telling us that the GOAJ will no longer permit him to leave 
the country to receive medical treatment.  Many observers 
link Abdullayev's arrest to the continuing rivalry between 
Minister of Internal Affairs Usubov and Minister of Emergency 
Situations Heydarov; others believe it was linked to a 
property deal gone sour.  END SUMMARY 
 
¶2. (U) On May 18, former independent MP Hussein Abdullayev 
was convicted of battery and hooliganism, for which he 
received a two-year suspended sentence.  The Court of Appeals 
later upheld the initial Sabail District Court verdict, and 
the case is currently awaiting a Supreme Court hearing. 
Abdullayev was arrested after engaging in a fist fight with 
pro-government MP Fazail Aghamaly after Abdullayev criticized 
the Prime Minister's annual report on the GOAJ's performance 
in a March 16 parliamentary session.  On March 17, in a vote 
of 79 to 15, Parliament voted to strip Abdullayev of his 
immunity; he was arrested the same day and detained for two 
months while the GOAJ investigated the case (reftels).  After 
the May 18 ruling, Abdullayev was permitted to leave 
Azerbaijan twice to undergo spinal cord surgery in Munich, 
Germany.  In both instances, he returned to Azerbaijan within 
the allotted time. 
 
AGHAMALY'S VERSION OF EVENTS 
---------------------------- 
 
¶3. (C) MP Fazail Aghamaly told Poloff that the March 16 
incident began when Abdullayev violated Parliament's rules of 
procedure by speaking longer than the three minutes that had 
been allocated to him.  Aghamaly said that Abdullayev began 
jumping, shouting, and personally insulting Aghamaly and 
other MPs.  Specifically, Aghamaly said that Abdullayev had 
called him a "jackass" and told him to "shut up and act like 
an MP," before insulting Aghamaly's female relatives. 
Aghamaly maintained that he "could not remember who hit whom 
first," but noted that Abdullayev is much smaller than him. 
(NOTE:  In the television coverage of the incident, Aghamaly 
appears to have started the fight.)  From the scuffle, 
Aghamaly said that he had sustained an injury to his left 
eye, which required 20 days of treatment.  According to 
Aghamaly, Abdullayev is a "criminal,"  whom all the MPs had 
feared, but he said that Adbullayev had not expected anyone 
to react to his antics.  Aghamaly concluded that Abdullayev's 
two-year suspended sentence was an adequate penalty for his 
actions. 
 
ABDULLAYEV'S SIDE OF THE STORY 
------------------------------ 
 
¶4. (C) Former MP Hussein Abdullayev and his lawyer, Javanshir 
Suleymanov, recounted Abdullayev's version of the scuffle, 
arrest, conviction, and present situation, and briefed Poloff 
on the legal aspects of Abdullayev's case.  Abdullayev said 
that he had planned in advance to criticize the Prime 
Minister's report, and had shared his speech with Speaker of 
Parliament Ogtay Asadov a week before the March 16 session. 
According to Abdullayev, Asadov had "recommended" that he not 
criticize the report.  (NOTE:  Emboffs had been permitted to 
observe Parliamentary sessions throughout the spring, but 
received a text message from Asadov's aide the night before 
stating that due to "technical difficulties," they would not 
be permitted access to the March 16 session.  They were 
allowed into subsequent sessions.)  He said that Aghamaly had 
hit him first, and claimed that Aghamaly later gave an 
interview to the BBC in which he admitted that he had struck 
Abdullayev first, and said that Abdullayev "had needed to be 
shut up for a long time."  (NOTE:  We were unable to verify 
that such an interview exists.) 
 
¶5. (C) According to Suleymanov, the Prosecutor's charges 
against Abdullayev stipulate that he committed physical 
battery against two individuals.  This, Suleymanov and 
 
BAKU 00001151  002 OF 003 
 
 
Abdullayev argued, is ridiculous:  who was the second person? 
 Suleymanov said that he has asked the Prosecutor's office 
several times to identify the second "victim," but has not 
received a response.  Further, he pointed out that the 
footage of the incident was very widely aired, and the 
footage showed only Abdullayev and Aghamaly.  Suleymanov said 
that the allegation of physical battery against more than one 
individual resulted in Abdullayev losing his seat in 
Parliament; the charge for such an act against one individual 
does not bear the same legal penalties. 
 
¶6. (C) Abdullayev said that during his time in Parliament, he 
had done a lot for Azerbaijani statehood.  "I was a member of 
Parliament's Legal Policy and State Building Commission.  If 
they can do this to me, what could they do to average 
citizens?"  According to Abdullayev, if there were a "normal" 
Parliament for only six months, many of Azerbaijan's problems 
could be fixed.  Abdullayev said that there are no 
independent MPs in Parliament, and that each Minister has 
installed six to seven MPs in the body.  Further, he said 
that about five or six MPs receive money from the GOAJ to 
create "provocations" in Parliament; while he did not name 
any such individuals other than Aghamaly, he alluded to the 
"pocket" opposition parties with representation in 
Parliament.  (NOTE:  These are widely thought to include the 
Hope Party, the Civil Solidarity Party, and the Justice 
Party.) 
 
¶7. (C) Abdullayev speculated that Minister of Internal 
Affairs Ramil Usubov had something to do with his arrest. 
Abdullayev said that earlier in the spring 2007 session, he 
had repeatedly raised the idea of calling Usubov to testify 
in Parliament regarding Haji Mammadov's kidnapping and 
extortion ring, which had operated within the Ministry for 
more than a decade.  Abdullayev does not believe Usubov's 
public claim to have not known about the gang, and wanted to 
question the Minister.  According to Abdullayev, many other 
MPs warned him to drop the issue, including Aghamaly.  (NOTE: 
 Usubov is widely rumored to be in line with Presidential 
Chief of Staff Ramiz Mehdiyev.)  Abdullayev believes that his 
removal from Parliament was intended to intimidate the other 
MPs, which he said has worked. 
 
¶8. (C) The two detailed their concerns over Abdullayev's 
medical condition; Abdullayev claims to suffer from a spinal 
disorder which cannot be treated in Azerbaijan.  Although he 
has been permitted to leave the country twice for surgery 
since receiving his sentence, Abdullayev said the court will 
no longer permit him to do so.  Suleymanov argued that the 
court has no reason to deny Abdullayev permission to leave 
the country, as nothing has changed since the prior two 
rulings to allow him to go.  Abdullayev explained that there 
are specialists in Munich, Germany, with the expertise to 
treat his condition, and because of the equipment required, 
they would be unable to treat him in Azerbaijan.  Suleymanov 
said that he is looking into filing a complaint with the 
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on the grounds that 
depriving one of medical treatment can be considered torture, 
which he claims also was the case during Abdullayev's 
two-month detention.  Recalling the extensive press coverage 
during his first trip to Munich, speculating that he would 
not return to Azerbaijan, Abdullayev chuckled, saying "they 
(the GOAJ) didn't want me to return."  In fact, he said that 
after that trip, immigration officials had been reluctant to 
allow him to re-enter the country. (NOTE:  On September 17, 
the Court of Appeals overturned the previous decision, and 
ruled to allow Abdullayev to leave the country once more.) 
 
¶9. (C) Abdullayev said that since the day of his arrest, his 
and his relatives' phone conversations have been recorded by 
the GOAJ.  He also reports being followed and harassed by 
police officers.  No matter how careful his driver is, 
Abdullayev said that police always manage to find some reason 
to pull them over and question them.  According to 
Abdullayev, this is the GOAJ's attempt to exert psychological 
pressure on him.  (NOTE:  In August, Abdullayev sent an 
appeal to Elchin Behbudov, the head of Azerbaijan's Committee 
against Torture, complaining of police harassment.  On August 
17, Behbudov told Poloff that Abdullayev was frightened and 
hiding at his dacha.) 
 
¶10. (C) Although Abdullayev did not rule out future political 
activity, he said that he would remain focused on his music 
until the situation is resolved.  He said that if given the 
chance to reclaim his Parliamentary seat, or to run for a 
seat in a future election, he would do so.  Suleymanov said 
that if the ECHR overturns the Azerbaijani courts' ruling, 
the GOAJ would be required to reinstate Abdullayev's mandate, 
which could be tricky if the seat is filled before that time. 
 (NOTE:  That would likely be the case, as Azerbaijani cases 
tend to take several years to be processed through the ECHR. 
 
BAKU 00001151  003 OF 003 
 
 
The next parliamentary elections are scheduled for 2010, but 
the Central Election Commission may call elections for vacant 
seats at any time.  As of September 12, head of the Central 
Election Commission's International Relations Department 
Rovsat Gasimov said there are no immediate plans to do so.) 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶11. (C) Abdullayev's case proves that in Azerbaijan, as in 
the cases of former Ministers Farhad Aliyev and Ali Insanov, 
connections and financial means matter little if the wrong 
person is crossed.  Prior to the March 16 scuffle, Abdullayev 
was widely viewed as well-connected within the GOAJ; he was 
rumored to have deployed gangs of GOAJ-affiliated "sportsmen" 
to picket opposition offices in the run-up to the 2005 
parliamentary election.  At the time of his arrest, 
Abdullayev was believed to have been a victim of the 
long-running rivalry between Minister of Internal Affairs 
Usubov and Minister of Emergency Situations Kamalladdin 
Heydarov.  Many observers also speculated that Abdullayev's 
arrest may have been linked to a property deal gone sour. 
Given the extremely closed nature of political deliberations 
within Azerbaijan's ruling elite, we likely will never know 
exactly what happened.  However, Abdullayev's arrest and 
subsequent treatment raise rule of law and human rights 
concerns.  We will continue to monitor the case.  We will 
continue to monitor Parliamentary sessions, meet regularly 
with our contact MPs, and report developments. 
 
BIO NOTES 
--------- 
 
¶12. (C) Hussein Abdullayev is an well-known composer and 
pianist, as well as a prominent businessman, with a large 
wealth accumulated from selling metals.  Although he served 
in Parliament as an independent MP, until the March 16 
events, he was considered to be closely aligned with the 
GOAJ.  Poloff met Abdullayev in his studio, which is a large, 
nicely decorated space in a very expensive downtown Baku 
location, fitted with what looks like state of the art 
recording equipment.  In stark contrast to the seriousness of 
the tale he wove and the earlier reports that he was scared 
and hiding, during the meeting Abdullayev was relaxed and 
witty.  Abdullayev speaks fluent Azerbaijani and Russian, and 
limited English. 
 
¶13. (C) Fazail Aghamaly founded the Ana Veten ("Motherland") 
Party in 1990, after resigning his position as secretary in 
the Popular Front (which at the time, was a movement, not a 
party, led by Albufaz Elchibey) due to a disagreement with 
the Front's position on the tragic Black January events. 
While Ana Veten claims to be an "opposition" party, it is 
aggressively pro-government and widely speculated to have 
been the GOAJ's own creation.  Ana Veten's two MPs, Aghamaly 
and Zahid Orujov, are among the most outspoken MPs, and often 
broach topics that would benefit the GOAJ but are too 
controversial for ruling party MPs to test themselves, such 
as their proposal in 2006 to extend the presidential term to 
seven years.  Ana Veten is not visibly active in politics 
outside of Parliament.  Aghamaly told Poloff that Ana Veten 
currently has approximately 14,000 members, with 62 regional 
branches. 
DERSE