Rally participant in Baku. Photo by Aziz Karimov for the Caucasian Knot

22 August 2019, 22:20

Growth in number of arrests indicates scale of activists' persecutions in Azerbaijan

In Azerbaijan, administrative arrests are used to persecute activists and critics of the authorities. Compared with 2011, in 2018 the number of such arrests has grown by more than 2.5 times, says the report prepared by the Institute for Democratic Initiatives (IDI).

The report "Analysis of the legislation on administrative arrests and the situation with ill-treatment (in places of detention)" presents statistics of administrative arrests in 2018 and compares these data with that of 2011.

The authors note that there were 2.56 times more administrative arrests, namely, 8449 in 2018 against 3299 in 2011. Over the last two years, in most cases, people were detained under the article on disobeying the police, the report says. According to IDI, at least 78 of the 2018 administrative arrests were politically motivated.

The report indicates the spread of the practice, when citizens are taken without any reason to the police stations, and then brought to the court, which rules an administrative arrest, based solely on policemen's testimonies.

The IDI also draws attention to the fact that those administratively arrested are held in conditions that fail to meet international standards.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 22, 2019 at 05:18 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Faik Medzhid Source: CK correspondent

All news
НАСТОЯЩИЙ МАТЕРИАЛ (ИНФОРМАЦИЯ) ПРОИЗВЕДЕН И РАСПРОСТРАНЕН ИНОСТРАННЫМ АГЕНТОМ ООО “МЕМО”, ЛИБО КАСАЕТСЯ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ ИНОСТРАННОГО АГЕНТА ООО “МЕМО”.

March 27, 2024 16:51

March 27, 2024 14:49

March 26, 2024 23:13

  • Analysts dispute on risks of IS'* intensifying in Northern Caucasus

    After the terror act at the Crocus City Hall, in Northern Caucasus, there is a risk of intensification of militants of the IS*, although no terror acts on civilians have not been observed there since 2018. This was noted by Sergey Goncharov, a veteran of special services, and Andrei Koshkin, a military expert.

March 26, 2024 20:26

March 26, 2024 19:40

News archive