Opposition activist shocked by police refusal to investigate use of force at Azerbaijani elections

The Azerbaijani law enforcement bodies refuse to institute criminal proceedings in a case on the use of force against Zhalya Bairamova at a polling station during parliamentary elections. This was stated by her father, opposition politician Gubad Ibadoglu.

On February 9, an incident with involvement of Zhalya Bairamova took place at the 16th polling station of the 76th Lankaran-Astara constituency in the village of Shyuryuk, where she was a member of the polling station election commission with an advisory vote.

During the operation of the polling station, a woman approached Zhalya Bairamova and expressed her dissatisfaction with the fact that Zhalya Bairamova was filming a video with her mobile phone. However, she continued filming and then the woman used force against her, the father of the victim reported.

A video of the incident was posted on the Internet. It shows how the woman approaches Zhalya Bairamova and after a short dialogue grabs her and drops her together with a chair.

The father of Zhalya Bairamova reported that after her return from Lankaran, his daughter underwent an examination at a private clinic in Baku. "Doctors registered the bodily injuries inflicted to her. However, the next day, as instructed from above, the head physician liquidated all medical reports. They told Zhalya that their clinic was almost closed because of her and asked her not to come to them anymore," Gubad Ibadoglu said.

On February 18, Zhalya Bairamova was summoned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), where she went with advocate Fariz Namazly. According to Gibad Ibadoglu, his daughter was again sent to Lankaran, where she was told the incident had been her fault. He believes that "the authorities want to hush up the crime."

"The police are delaying the investigation to ensure the signs of violence could not be registered. We will now appeal to the Prosecutor's Office with a complaint," Zhalya Bairamova told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 21, 2020 at 02:11 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.