Azerbaijani GPO opens case against political emigrant Tural Sadygly

The Azerbaijani General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) has initiated a criminal case against the blogger and activist, Tural Sadygly, who is in political emigration. The Interpol has announced him wanted.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Tural Sadygly is the administrator of the Azad söz (Free Word) page on the Facebook, which sharply criticizes the policy of Azerbaijani authorities. In 2015, his brother Elgin Sadygly was arrested and charged with drug dealing. A few months later, Elgin was sentenced conditionally, and in 2018 he was again arrested for 30 days, after Tural Sadygly initiated an international campaign "Let's tell about Dictator" in protest against the extraordinary presidential election in Azerbaijan.

On May 17, 2019, three officers of the Criminal Investigating Division of the Main Police Department of Baku came to the house of Tural Sadygly's parents located in the dwelling settlement of Sabunchi in the suburb of Baku, the father of activist, Alovsat Sadygly, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on May 18.

"The police officers said that a criminal case had been launched against Tural by the Investigating Department for Grave Crimes of the Azerbaijani GPO; and he was put on the wanted list," said the father, adding that the officers failed to tell what Tural was accused of, and presented no documents.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 19, 2019 at 05:49 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.