"Nida" activist Zaur Gurbanly arrested in Azerbaijan

Today, in Baku, the police have arrested Zaur Gurbanly, a blogger and an activist of the movement "Nida". By decision of the Nasimi District Court the activist was arrested for three months.

Khalid Bagirov, his advocate, said in his interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the prosecution of Zaur Gurbanly is unjustified. "No evidence, even preliminary one, against him has been presented," he said.

According to the lawyer, investigators had motivated the arrest by the criminal investigation already opened against other arrested members of the organization. The decision of the court to arrest the activist will be appealed against at the appellate court, Mr Bagirov has added.

Turgut Gambar, a member of the board of the "Nida", has noted that Zaur Gurbanly was arrested under trumped-up charges: "This case was completely fabricated. The authorities are faking the criminal case by throwing away all the norms of decency. However, it only strengthens the protest of the youth."

On March 31, the movement "Nida" issued a statement, which treats the pursuit of its activists as pressure from the authorities and demanded the immediate release of all the detained activists.