Azerbaijani opposition activist states his kidnapping

Gadim Soltan, a member of the "Musavat" Party, was forcibly taken away from a village in Gobustan District of Azerbaijan during the collection of signatures in favour of a candidate for the parliament. The opposition activist treats the incident as kidnapping; his party colleagues say about pressure.

The incident with Gadim Soltan occurred on September 13 in the village of Khilmilli when he and two activists collected signatures in favour of Sakhavat Soltan, deputy chairman of the "Musavat" Party, who was nominated a candidate for the local MP.

"In Khilmilli we collected just two signatures. When we came out of the yard, two Niva cars without license plates arrived there. 7-8 people went out of the cars; among them I recognized the employees of the local election commission and the officials of executive power of Gobustan District. They demanded our signature lists. I said that these demands are illegal; and we didn't give them the lists. But they forced me into the car and drove away. Some 10-12 km away from Khilmilli, in the deserted area, I was released," Gadim Soltan told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The oppositionist reported about the incident to the "hotline" 102 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Azerbaijan and wrote an application to the Gobustan District Police Department.

Gyulaga Aslanly, the head of the central electoral headquarters of the "Musavat" Party, described the incident as a "gross and blatant interference into the election process."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.