In Azerbaijan, defence challenges arrests of two detained IDPs at protest

Advocate Elchin Sadygov has challenged the arrests of two internally displaced persons (IDPs) who were arrested for involvement in a protest action against power interruptions in villages for IDPs. The advocate treats the arrest of the IDPs as violation of their right to freedom of assembly.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 22, IDPs from the Jabrayil District, de facto controlled by Nagorno-Karabakh, held a protest action. They demanded to free them from payments for electricity. Law enforcers dispersed the protesters. Nine policemen were injured, and three IDPs were detained.

Two IDPs Djalal Guliev and Zaur Feyruzlu are charged with use of violence against a public official, reports Elchin Sadygov.

According to the advocate, he was told by relatives of the arrested men that they had committed no acts of violence, but policemen had violently dispersed the protest action.

Rasul Jafarov, the head of the Human Rights Club, has added that, according to his information, at least five persons were detained.

Besides, according to him, Djalal Guliev, one of the arrested men, is seriously ill.

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