Suspects in two foreign women's beating in Baku rejected political motives of their actions

The law enforcement authorities of Azerbaijan detained the fourth suspect in beating on 15 June in Baku of Amanda Erickson, an American journalist, and Celia Davis, a British human rights activist. This is Nazim Khuseinov, a resident of Babak District of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic (NAR). All four detainees said that they did not know who the girls were and that initially they wanted to get acquainted with them.

Upon detention of the last, the fourth, suspect, Ekhsan Zakhidov, the deputy head of the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan denied the political background of the incident. According to Mr Zakhidov, "the testimonies of suspects and victims are the same". In his view, the incident occurred because suspects and victims "did not understand each other".

"The problem was that young men did not know English, and the girls – Azerbaijani," said Mr Zakhidov. He noted that the guys wanted to get acquainted with the girls. At that, one of the young men persistently asked the mobile phone number of one of the girls. Having been rejected, the young man lost his temper and raised his hand to the girl.

According to Mr Zakhidov, the actions of suspects are classified as hooliganism, and it will "obtain a legal assessment in accordance with the requirements of the law".

On June 28 in the evening several TV channels in Azerbaijan showed interviews with the detainees. They also stated that they wanted to get acquainted with the girls.
Herewith, all four detainees said that they did not know that the girls were a journalist and a human rights activist.

There are no comments from the victims. After the incident they made no statements for the media.