Five protesters against non-combat losses in Azerbaijani Army arrested

Five citizens of Azerbaijan have been subjected to administrative arrest, and 16 others were fined for taking part in a non-sanctioned protest against non-combat losses in the army. The rulings were passed today by the Sabail and Nasimi District Courts of Baku.

The action involving at least 500 people was held on March 10. The police, according to the protesters, detained more than 120 persons.

The court has ruled to arrest for 7 days the detained activists of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) Mukhammed Mejidli, Turkel Alicoy and Elvin Baidjan. Two more persons – Babek Gasanov from the PFPA and Ilkin Rustamzade, an activist of the "Free Youth" movement, were arrested for 6 days. All of them were found guilty of violating the rules of holding rallies and demonstrations, as activists of the PFPA and "Musavat" Party told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Another 16 activists of youth organizations and youth wings of oppositional parties were fined from 300 manats (about 383 US dollars) to 600 manats (about 767 US dollars).

The list of convicts includes activists of the oppositional PFPA, "Musavat", Azerbaijani Democratic Party (ADP) and REAL, notes the blogger of the "Caucasian Knot" named Gorgud. "Most of them are PFPA members," writes the blogger.

The trigger for the action was the death on February 28 of the soldier Seimur Allakhverdiev. According to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Azerbaijan, he had committed suicide, but the soldier's family does not agree with this version.