New York-based Human Rights Watch said that the destruction of the building that served as a hub for human rights activists in the country sent a chilling message to Azerbaijanis.
“These human rights organizations, which provided crucial support to victims of government abuse, as well as women in crisis and others in need, have lost nearly everything,” HRW researcher Jane Buchanan said in a statement.
The group said Thursday’s demolition took place without warning and despite a court injunction banning expropriation or demolition of the property, which the owners of the building, rights defender Leyla Yunus and her husband, obtained in May pending a final court decision.
Officials at the mayor’s office couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
The energy-rich nation has faced persistent criticism from international rights groups for its heavy-handed treatment of independent media, opposition parties and rights activists.
Protection of property rights also has been weak in Azerbaijan amid a government-led drive to remodel the capital.
Azad Isazade, who works at the Institute for Peace and Democracy, one of the groups formerly housed in the building torn down Thursday, told HRW that officials arrived without advance warning in the evening and told people to leave the premises for their safety as an adjacent building was to be demolished.
After Isazade refused to leave, heavy machinery began dismantling other sections of the building and government workers arrived to remove furniture and equipment, HRW said. The building was completely destroyed within two hours, it added.
“This nighttime demolition, without warning or allowing the tenants to remove personal property, suggests that the authorities were looking to punish Yunus for her work defending people’s property,” Buchanan said. “It is particularly outrageous that the government would bring in the bulldozers in defiance of a court order and the rule of law.”
