Azerbaijan: rights defenders declare July 10 the Day Against Torture

Most of those arrested in connection with the riots in Ganja in July 2018 were not involved in these events; their confessions were knocked out under torture, the Committee against Repressions and Torture has stated and declared July 10 the Day Against Torture.

Monitoring of trials, information of defendants' family members and advocates evidence that those arrested in connection with the Ganja events are being prosecuted without due proofs, the authors of the report have stated.

"The reason for the Ganja events was in the despotism and cruelty of Elmar Veliev, the former head of city, towards local residents. Everything began with an attempt on his life. The motives of Yunis Safarov, who tried to kill Veliev, are still not clear, but in the eyes of many townspeople he looked like some kind of avenger – a local 'Robin Hood'," said Ogtai Gyulyalyev, the coordinator of the Committee against Repressions and Torture.

He told about facts using torture against those arrested: "They were stripped and beaten up with truncheons; they were tortured with electric current and kept without food and water."

Most of those arrested have no relation to the unrests, said Rovshan Akhmedli, the head of the Committee for the Protection of Rights of Arrested Islamists.

According to Namizad Safarov, a lawyer, authorities are trying to picture those arrested as "religious radicals."

On July 10, 2019, the Union for the Freedom of Political Prisoners of Azerbaijan released an updated list of political prisoners. With the nine persons added to the list, the total number of political prisoners in the country has reached 107 persons.