In Azerbaijan, advocate claims police pressure on Khalid Khanlarov

Colleagues of Khalid Khanlarov, an active Facebook user, subjected to a 25-day administrative arrest under the charge of disobeying police, believe that he was arrested on political grounds, and they associate his arrest with his activities on the Internet. The defence of Khalid Khanlarov has announced the intention to file a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

On January 23, Khalid Khanlarov, an active user of social network Facebook, was detained on the charge of disobeying police, the "Caucasian Knot" was told by Shakhla Gumbatova, an advocate of the activist.

On February 1, the advocate managed to meet Khalid Khanlarov.

According to the advocate, the young man denies the administrative offense charged against him. The activist has also claimed being subjected to psychological pressure at the police detention facility.

"We have exhausted the domestic mechanisms of appeal. However, we will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)," the advocate has stated.

The colleagues of Khalid Khanlarov associate his arrest with his activities on Facebook.

"Until recently, Khalid was an administrator of 'Ditdili' (Mosquito), a satirical Facebook group, which mocked the authorities' policy. And he often criticizes the authorities on his own page. We believe that the Khalid's arrest is directly related to his activities on the Internet," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by one of the Internet activists who preferred to remain anonymous.

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