Political emigrants tell about pressure on their relatives in Azerbaijan

This May, law enforcers threatened with arrest and dismissal from work to relatives of the Azerbaijani activists who had left for Europe, the organization "Chose Democratic Azerbaijan" (CDA) has stated. Over a month, relatives of at least 50 political emigrants were summoned to the police, said Ogtai Gyulyalev, the head of the Centre for the Protection of Political Prisoners.

"Almost every day, innocent people are taken to the police; they are insulted there, receive threats of dismissal from work and forced to renounce their relatives," says the CDA's statement.

Thus, a nephew of Mubariz Kerimov and the mother of another CDA member, Sabukhi Ismailov, were threatened with dismissal; while the son-in-law of Ali Mamedov was summoned to the police and warned about a possible arrest. Law enforcers made a "last warning" to Gafar, the father of Madjid Mekhdili, explaining that they were dissatisfied with the latter's participation in protests in Berlin.

Parviz Abdullaev, an activist who lives in Germany, said that on May 1, law enforcers summoned his father, brother and father-in-law. "They were told that if I did not delete the announcement about a rally on May 10 at the Romanian Embassy in Berlin, they would face problems," said Abdullaev.

Gabil Mamedov, a video blogger, told about detention of his 12 relatives at once, including his 83-year-old mother and his 85-year-old father. "All this is reminiscent of Stalin's repressions. No one should be responsible for my activities," he said on a video posted on the YouTube.

Ali Mamedov, an emigrant, said that his publications on the Facebook caused pressure on two of his relatives in Azerbaijan. "They put forward claims to me that I call the president 'a dictator' and threatened to arrest the relatives: I had to remove my posts," he said.