Court forbids "ReAl" activist from leaving Azerbaijan

The Sabail District Court has retroactively notified Natig Djafarli, the Executive Secretary of the "Republican Alternative" (ReAl) Party, about the ban on his leaving the country. The oppositionist has associated the ban with his speeches at foreign events.

According to Natig Djafarli, on September 28, he received an official letter from the Sabail District Court about the ban imposed on his leaving the country due to tax debt. "The letter says that back on September 19, on the proposal of the Ministry of Taxes, a ban was imposed on me to leave the country because of the allegedly existing tax debt in the amount of 2072 manats (about USD 1240, – note of the "Caucasian Knot"); they informed me about it post factum," Mr Djafarli told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

He does not rule out that the current restrictions have to do with his oppositional activities and criticism of the government. "Perhaps someone in power dislikes my criticism of the government's economic policy and human rights issues; and my speeches at international events, where we honestly talk about existing problems. Over the past year, I was invited to a number of events held within the Council of Europe, the European Union and, more recently, by the ODIHR (Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights) of the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe). Maybe a command came from the top to urgently put a 'stop' to my foreign travels. Therefore, they've hastily held a trial, even without notifying me," Mr Djafarli has stated, adding that he intends to appeal against the decision at the appellate instance.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 28, 2019 at 07:27 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.