Movement "ReAl" marks fourth anniversary of Ilgar Mamedov's arrest by "Day of Open Letters"

On February 4, in Azerbaijan, the opposition movement "Republican Alternative" (ReAl) marked the fourth anniversary of the arrest of its leader Ilgar Mamedov by holding the "Day of Open Letters". People were invited to come to the office of the "ReAl" and write letters to support Ilgar Mamedov. The human rights defenders have also appealed to international organizations to make efforts to release Ilgar Mamedov.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in March 2014, Ilgar Mamedov, the leader of "ReAl", was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment on the charge of organizing protests of Ismayilli residents who were dissatisfied with the arbitrariness of local officials.

According to Azer Gasymly, a member of the board of the movement "ReAl", when the authorities arrested Ilgar Mamedov, they wanted to "break" him.

"The Ilgar Mamedov's loyalty to republican ideas and politician principles further increased the popularity of the movement 'ReAl' in the society," noted Erkin Gadirli, a member of the board of the movement "ReAl".

The verdict pronounced by the ECtHR in the Ilgar Mamedov's case has not been fulfilled during three years. According to the human rights defenders' appeal, the persistent failure to fulfil the ECtHR's decision on the release of Ilgar Mamedov means the authorities' demonstrative refusal to fulfil obligations before the Council of Europe (CE).

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