At action in Baku, police detain political prisoners' relatives

In Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, policemen detained protesters who demanded freedom for political prisoners. Soon, the detainees were released.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 23, Azerbaijani human rights defenders, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and lawyers released an updated list of 142 political prisoners.

On Friday, protesters, wearing T-shirts with portraits of their arrested relatives, organized a march in Baku. According to Zafar Akhmedov, a member of the Coordination Centre of Political Prisoners' Families and the father of Fuad Akhmedli, a convicted member of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), the police stopped them.

"They made a 'conversation' with us. We explained that by our peaceful action we want to draw the society's attention to unjust arrests of our family members," he said.

Shura Amiraslanova, the mother of the convicted Giyas Ibragimov, said that she protested against the celebration of the Day of National Salvation.

"June 15 is not a 'salvation' day, but the liquidation day of our hopes for democratization of Azerbaijan," said Nigyar Khazi, a former political prisoner and the wife of the convicted journalist Seymur Khazi.

She noted that the problem of political prisoners can be solved only in the context of political reforms.

Let us note here that the Azerbaijani authorities deny the presence of any political prisoners in their country.