In Baku, court sentences seven activists of "Musavat" Party and PFPA to administrative arrests

In Azerbaijan, seven activists, who were detained prior to the opposition rally held on April 8 at the time of distributing leaflets calling to participate in that action, were sentenced to administrative arrests.

The "Caucasian Knot" has already reported that on April 8, Baku hosted a rally, attended by thousands of people, who demanded to conduct early parliamentary elections, release political prisoners, eliminate corruption, and solve the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. The rally was organized by the Civil Movement for Democracy "Public Chamber" (CMDPC).

Even prior to the rally start, in different parts of Baku, the activists, distributing leaflets calling on citizens to participate in the rally, were detained. However, their relatives and associates learned about that only in the evening of April 8.

"Young people have been detained at distributing leaflets. Later, it was recorded as "a failure to obey to the police." At police stations, the detainees were subjected to abuse. And the activist Nikhad Guseinov was kept in the corridor of the police station for the entire night. The detainees were not allowed contacting with their family members and lawyers," stated the lawyer Asabali Mustafaev.

According to him, the Sabail District Court sentenced Nikhad Guseinov, the member of the Youth Committee of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), to 15-day arrest. Djalal Gafarov and Zulfugar Gubadov, the other activists of the organization, were sentenced to 12-day arrests, and Elchin Damirov was sentenced to 11-day arrest.

Elnur Askerli, the activist of the "Musavat" Party, was sentenced to 11-day arrest. Teimur Farzaliev and Gail Gafarov, his comrades in the party, were sentenced to 3-day of arrests. Shakhin Mirzoev, one more activist of the "Musavat" Party, felt bad during the detention, and he was hospitalized and released from custody.

Asif Yusifli, the member of the Presidium of the PFPA, was detained for one day at the 39th police department of the Sabail District Police Department; then, he was released and fined 21 manats (about 25 US dollars).

According to Asabali Mustafaev, the arrested activist had been deprived of reliable legal defence, and at trials they were defended by state-appointed lawyers.

He has also reported that the decisions of administrative arrests will be challenged at the Baku Court of Appeal (BCA). All detainees are kept at facilities for detention of persons, arrested in the administrative order, of the Baku Police Department.

The lawyer treated the arrests of the young people as violation of freedom of assembly and expression. At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that the young people had been arrested for calling for participation in sanctioned action.

Rasul Djafarov, the coordinator of the "Club for Human Rights", has also condemned the persecution of the young people for the realization of their political rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

The Chief Police Department of the city of Baku confirmed the information about the arrests of the young people. However, officials from the police department claim that the activists had been detained for "failure to obey to lawful demands of policemen."

Let us remind you that, summarizing the outcome of the rally held on April 8, the CMDPC has adopted a resolution, demanding to release political prisoners, stop persecution of believers and participants of social protest, conduct new free parliamentary elections in 2012, eliminate corruption and monopoly in the economy.

Besides, the protesters also insist on developing a national platform on the Karabakh settlement, aimed at restoration of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

According to the Baku police, the rally was attended by about 1200 persons. The next rally of CMDPC is scheduled for April 22.