11:26, 22 August 2019

Law enforcers disrupt rally in support of defendants in Ganja case

Azerbaijani policemen. Photo by Aziz Karimov for the Caucasian Knot

On August 21, mothers of the men arrested in the "Ganja case" tried to hold a protest rally in Baku in the support of their sons. Law enforcers stopped the protest action and detained one of its participants.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 16, at a protest action in Ganja, the mothers of the men arrested in the "Ganja case" demanded to release their sons and investigate their complaints about torture.

On July 3, 2018, there was an assassination attempt on Elmar Veliev, the head of the Ganja administration. Yunis Safarov, a 35-year-old native of Ganja, was detained. On July 10, in Ganja, about 200 people gathered outside the administration building and demanded to investigate the actions of Elmar Veliev. The police dispersed the rally. Two police officers were killed in clashes with the protesters.

On August 21, the mothers of the arrested men tried to hold a protest action in Baku. Several dozens of women tried to march from Alley of Martyrs to the presidential administration to express their dissatisfaction with the way the trials against their relatives were conducted, the "Turan" reported on August 21.

"My son was sitting on a bench. He did not kill anyone. He did not break anything. And for that he was sentenced to eight years of imprisonment. How can that be possible?" said one of the protestors as quoted by the "Turan".

The police units arriving at the place of the rally disrupted the women's march to the presidential administration. Law enforcers detained Sevindj Guseinova, one of the participants of the rally, and brought her to a police station.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 22, 2019 at 07:45 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.