In Baku, police disperses action in support of Zeinal Bagirzade

On December 30, in Baku, the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) tried to hold an unsanctioned protest action against the arrest of Zeinal Bagirzade, a member of the Nakhchivan Branch of the Party. Several persons were detained.

Zeinal Bagirzade was arrested on December 26 in the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic (NAR) on charges of falsifying documents.

On December 30, about 100 opposition activists made a march from the Narimanov Park to the permanent representative office of the NAR in Baku, chanting slogans in support of Zeinal Bagirzade and demanding to stop massive human rights violations committed in the NAR.

The police took the building of the office under guard well in advance. Nevertheless, the opposition activists managed to chant slogans demanding resignation of the head of the NAR Vasif Talybov and stop persecuting people in Nakhichevan for their beliefs.

The police stopped the action, which was not coordinated with the city administration. Six persons, including Asef Guliev, Deputy Chairman of the PFPA, were detained, the APA reports.

]According to other sources, 4 persons were detained and brought to the Narimanov Police Department, namely, the PFPA activists Asef Guliev, Sakhib Guseinli, Yashar Veliev and Orkhan Djarchyev. The latter two were severely beaten, the Contact.az writes.

So far, there are no comments made by the police of this information.