"Musavat" activist arrested for 10 days in Azerbaijan

On April 5 in Sumgait, Sarvan Davudoglu and Elshad Khagan, activists of the local branch of the youth organization of the "Musavat" Party, were detained. They were brought to the Sumgait city police department. Davudoglu was sentenced by the court to 10 days in jail for disobeying police, and Khagan released, said Akhad Mamedli, the deputy head of the youth organization of the "Musavat" Party.

The young people were detained "totally unreasonably; and they didn't exert any resistance to the police"; they are persecuted for their civic and political activism and criticism in social networks, Mr Mamedli told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Davudoglu had been earlier detained in Sumgait – at protest actions held in Baku to prevent him from coming to the capital to take part in the demonstrations. "Sarvan was warned by the police not to write anything against the government on the Facebook. But Sarvan and his brother Elshad ignored these threats," said Mamedli.

According to his story, the young man was tried in the absence of his trusted advocate. He said that one of independent advocates would be involved with defence of Davudoglu, who will lodge a complaint against his arrest.

The Sumgait City Police Department has confirmed the arrest of Davudoglu. The on duty officer denied that the arrest of the young man was caused by his statements in social networks.