William Pryor: “as President Bush prepares for his meeting with President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, I rise to address important human…”

“as President Bush prepares for his meeting with President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, I rise to address important human rights concerns in that country. Although hundreds of political prisoners have been freed due in part to pressure brought by the United States, it is believed that as many as 50 political prisoners remain in Azeri jails. Prior to the November elections in Azerbaijan, a group of businessmen and government officials were arrested on charges of planning a coup. Among this group, there were former Minister of Economic Development Farhad Aliyev, and his brother, Rafiq Aliyev. Because of his well-known opposition to Russia's increased influence in Azerbaijan and his pro- Western stance, in addition to the antimonopoly initiatives he led prior to his arrest, many fear that Mr. Aliyev's and his colleague's arrests were politically motivated. They are being held in the pretrial detention center at the National Security Ministry, which is notorious for its poor conditions and harsh treatment of prisoners. Human rights organizations in this country and in Europe have expressed concern about the violations of the due process rights of the detainees in connection with this case. Farhad Aliyev is a cardiac patient suffering from hypertension and hypertrophy. In a recent fact-finding mission, the International League for Human Rights has verified that Mr. Aliyev has been denied proper medical care and medicine for his heart condition.…”