Opposition claims inhuman custody conditions of Azerbaijani activists

Arrests of oppositionists under administrative cases have frequented in Azerbaijan, while their custody conditions are inhuman, the oppositional National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF) asserts.

On January 31, the NCDF issued a statement, in which it drew attention to "a recent increase in politically motivated administrative arrests."

"In recent years, authorities began broadly applying the practice of administrative arrests of oppositional activists. Last year alone, more than a hundred activists, mainly members of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), were subjected to administrative arrests for participating in or preparing protest actions," Djamil Gasanli, the head of the NCDF, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent in his comment on this statement.

He has noted that in one of the facilities, where activists detained in Baku in the administrative order are usually placed, the custody conditions are "even severe and harsher than in the SIZOs (pre-trial prisons), where those accused of committing criminal offenses are kept."

According to his data, during activists' administrative arrests, they are visited by law enforcers, who try 'to force them to change their position and start cooperating with the authorities.' Such recent cases were with Tofig Yagublu, an NCDF member, and Rufat Safarov, a former investigator," Mr Gasanli has added.

The NCDF has demanded from the government to take steps towards eliminating these problems, "improving the custody conditions and adequately changing the detention regime, and to stop pressure on those kept there for political reasons."

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 1, 2020 at 11:48 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.