CAT/C/38/D/270&271/2005
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Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The complainants are represented by
counsel.
1.2 On 13 and 29 June 2005, respectively, the Rapporteur for new complaints and interim
measures requested the State party not to deport Y. K. and E. R. K. to Azerbaijan while their
cases are under consideration by the Committee, in accordance with rule 108, paragraph 1, of
the Committee’s rules of procedures. On 16 November 2005 and16 March 2006, the State
party acceded to the Committee’s request.
1.3 On 30 April 2007, during the 38th session of the Committee against Torture, the
Committee decided to join the consideration of these two communications.
The facts as presented by the complainants
2.1 Y. K. was a student at the Azerbaijan State Marine Academy in 1999. His brother E. R.
K., who is a painter, graduated from the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Art on 28
June 1994. From 1992 to 2002, he worked as a teacher at the Gymnasium of Art in Baku.
Neither of the brothers was ever engaged in any political activity. However, their brother, E.
N. K. (a third brother), had been an active member of the Azerbaijan Democratic Party (ADP)
since 12 February 1999 and in December 2001, due to his political activities was forced to
leave Azerbaijan. The complainants’ case is based on their brother E. N. K.’s activities. The
primary political aim of the ADP is to establish a democratic rule of law in Azerbaijan, and
the party works actively for human rights and freedoms. E. N. K.’s role in the party included
the preparation, planning and carrying out of rallies and demonstrations and he was directly
associated with the ideological section of the ADP’s local divisions in Khatai and Nasimi
districts. As an artist, he was responsible for creating slogans and posters. During
demonstrations, he was responsible for handing out political material to the participants.
2.2 On 8 September 2001, E. N. K. was brutally assaulted by two policemen during a
demonstration. Due to the confusion created by the crowd, he managed to escape and was
taken to hospital, where they found that he had a fracture to his left hand. The police later
came to the hospital to interrogate him about the ADP, and ordered him to come to the police
station upon release. On 27 October 2001, as E. N. K. had not turned up at the police station,
he was arrested at his home. After a body search, he was confined in a “cramped cell” for 9 to
11 hours, after which he was brutally assaulted by two policemen. He was thrown to the floor
and severely beaten to the point of unconsciousness on several occasions. Twenty four hours
later, he was interrogated about his activities in the ADP. Subsequently, he was released with
a warning that he would be interrogated again soon. On 6 December 2001, the police came to
his house with an arrest warrant and a search warrant, but E. N. K. had gone into hiding.
They searched the house in which they discovered political documents and brutally
“mistreated” his wife.
2.3 On 25 December 2001, E. N. K. and his wife and daughter illegally left Azerbaijan. On
2 January 2002, they arrived in Sweden and applied for asylum. While in Sweden, E. N. K.
received a “verdict”, sentencing him in absentia to 5 years imprisonment for complicity in a
coup d’état 2. On 16 June 2004, the Migration Board rejected his request for asylum, on the
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A copy is provided by the complainants in their comments on the State party’s submission.
As set out in paragraph 5.7 below, the complainants admit that there was an error in
translation and that this was not a judgement/verdict but a warrant for arrest.