In Baku, all detained oppositionists back at large

All the 14 oppositional activists detained on November 15 during the protest action in the centre of Baku, demanding release of political prisoners in the evening of that day, were released from the police station after a warning. This was reported by Gezyal Bairamly, Deputy Chair of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA).

Tofig Yagublu, Deputy Chairman of the "Musavat" Party, Mustafa Gajibeili, the member of the Party's Mejilis, and other party activists, Djamil Gadjiev, the head of the youth branch of the Democratic Party, Vagif Khalygov, Mamed Ibragim, Dayanat Babaev, the PFPA's activists were among the detained persons.

According to Gezyal Bairamly, despite the police brutality, the protest action "has succeeded".

"During an hour, the centre of Baku was engaged in protests, and public attention was drawn to the problem of political prisoners and restriction on freedom of assembly. These protest actions have also shown that, despite the authorities' repressions, aspirations of citizens, including young people, to freedom could not be suppressed," Gezyal Bairamly has emphasized.

Officials from the police headquarters of the city of Baku explained the dispersal of the protest actions by the fact that they had not been sanctioned by the authorities. The capital police officials denied the opposition statements about use of force against the protestors.

"Several people were detained to stop the illegal protest action, and they were released after a warning," the police unit on duty reported.