The seizure of power takes place in Azerbaijan

On April 11, 2018, the so-called «presidential elections» are held in the Republic of Azerbaijan.

In fact, on April 11 the Azerbaijani authorities committed  criminal actions aimed at forcible seizure of power in violation of the Constitution, with direct or indirect complicity of a large number of international observers and the world’s leading media.

The presidential candidate of Azerbaijan, Milana Gorenstein (Ustinova), appealed to the Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan Zakir Garalov in relation to the criminal offenses committed by the leaders of the CEC of Azerbaijan during the period from 2013 to 2018. A lawsuit was filed with the Constitutional Court of the Azerbaijan Republic demanding holding scheduled elections, withdrawing the candidature of Ilham Aliyev and bringing him to justice.

The CEC of Azerbaijan did not register the candidacy of Ms. Gorenstein, and  there was no official refusal or explanation of the reasons. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, to which the application was sent to visit Nagorno-Karabakh for professional activities, did not respond to the official request of Ms. Gorenstein. The General Prosecutor’s Office and the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Azerbaijan also showed inaction regarding the applications  and enabled the crime of seizure of power in Azerbaijan.

The leading international observers and the media, as well as local and international organizations conducting exit polls («Opinion Way» — France, «Arthur Finkelstein Association» — USA, Independent Research Center «Els» — Azerbaijan) were informed in writing and verbally  of the impending crime. Some observers (missions of the CIS Executive Committee and OSCE / ODIHR) received full access to documents sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Constitutional Court of Azerbaijan. The legal situation prevailing in Azerbaijan was also discussed with the leaders of the Venice Commission. The materials  of the case are provided to the Secretariat of human rights organization “Amnesty International”.

Milana Gorenstein (Ustinova) is running in the presidential elections in Azerbaijan for the second time. After the elections in 2013, due to the refusal of all judicial instances of Azerbaijan, including the Supreme Court, lawsuits against the crimes committed by the leadership of the CEC were brought to the ECHR (France). The ECHR judge Julia Laffranque refused to consider the case of falsification of elections in Azerbaijan without any explanation. The PACE President Anne Brasseur received a complaint about the problems in ECHR and a full copy of the case materials, but she also decided to remain silent. Europol experts, who monitor transnational crimes, recommended starting an investigation into the above facts.

In 2018, Ilham Aliyev, expecting the recurrence of the 2013 scenario and new lawsuits in the ECHR regarding elections falsification, decided to strengthen his positions by expanding the powers of the judge from Azerbaijan to the ECHR Latif Huseynov. However, the authorities’ crimes went beyond the scope of the ECHR: in 2017 the French court officially recognized Ilham Aliyev as dictator.

When laws cease to work in the state, the state itself ceases to exist in the declared legal format. Ilham Aliyev led the Republic of Azerbaijan to the condition of failed state.

Milana Gorenstein (Ustinova) after consultation with the Secretariat prepared a statement of claim to the Prosecutor’s Office of the International Criminal Court in Hague. Despite the fact that Azerbaijan has not ratified the Rome Statute, there are mechanisms in international law to hold accountable the main executors and all accomplices for multiple crimes (seizure of power, juridical genocide,  extreme international corruption, transnational crimes, state terror, political prisoners, violations of international humanitarian law, etc.)

According to official sources, 894 international and 58,175 local observers were involved in the process of illegal seizure of power in Azerbaijan, as well as 150 journalists representing the world’s leading media: “The Washington Times”, “The Hill”, “The Jerusalem Post”, , «The Times of Israel», «Daily Caller», «Muslim World Today», «The Algemeiner», «Independent Journal Review», «RAİ» TV, «New Europe», «Al Jazeera», ORT, RTR, “Russia Today”, “The Daily Times”, TRT World, and others.

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