Defender of the rights of victims of flood in Azerbaijan accused of illegal storage of arms

A charge of illegal storage of arms and ammunition was brought against Ilham Amirsalanov, detained resident of the settlement Askerbeili, Sabirabad district of Azerbaijan, who during the latest two years was defending the rights of sufferers from a flood of May and June, 2010, in the Kura and Araz rivers. Amirsalanov was arrested by Sabirabad district court for the term of 2 months.

Zahidov: Amirsalanov is incriminated in illegal storage of arms and ammunition

In the opinion of Head of Press service of the Ministry of Interior Affairs Ehsan Zahidov, "it is incorrect to consider a person having two previous convictions a human rights activist".

According to Zahidov, in 1997 Amirsalanov was convicted for desertion and amnestied in 2002. The same year Amirsalanov was sentenced to 1,5 years of custody for accusation of swindle.

Now he is incriminated in illegal storage of arms and ammunition and a charge according to clause 228 of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan is brought against him. A "Makarov", six cartridges and a cartridge drum were confiscated from Amirsalanov's house.

Zahidov added that search in Amirsalanov's house was carried out upon "operative information".

The "Caucasian Knot" has yet no comments from Amirsalanov's defense.

Nurullaev: Amirsalanov is prosecuted just for his civic stand

According to representatives of the office of non-governmental association "The Kura", only today they received the news of Amirsalanov' place of detention, i.e. investigative isolation ward No 1 in the settlement of Kiurdakhany, in the suburbs of Baku, and the exact accusations against the activist.

Amirsalanov' relatives had no time to hire an attorney for him yet.

Members of the office of "The Kura" are sure that it is only for Amirsalanov' civic stand that he is prosecuted and the "two previous convictions have nothing to do with the case".

"Ilham Amirsalanov was one of the people injured by the flood. He was only actively defending his own and other sufferers' rights. There was no evil design in his actions. Just like other local residents he wants repair of the dwellings injured by flood and payment of fair compensations", representative of the office of "The Kura" Narulla Nurullaev said to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.