“Musavat” Party activist arrested in Azerbaijan

On April 5, Nizami Suleimanov, a member of the “Musavat” Party, was detained in the village of Surakhany. He was arrested for 20 days on the charge of drug trafficking, the “Musavat” Party reports. Colleagues of Nizami Suleimanov treat his arrest as pressure on the opposition.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 20, the Union “For Freedom of Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan” released a list of political prisoners, which included 146 people.

Recently, Nizami Suleimanov complained about pressure with requests to quit the party, notes Vagif Gadjibeili, the chief of the press service for the “Musavat” Party.

The party’s board demanded from the police to stop interfering in politics and putting pressure on the opposition. “The authorities apparently want to drown out any criticism and put pressure on everyone who speaks in favour of changes in the country,” Vagif Gadjibeili emphasized.

The “Musavat” Party, along with the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), is one of the leading opposition parties in the country, so members of those organizations are most often subjected to pressure, notes Elshan Gasanov, the head of the Monitoring Centre for Political Prisoners.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 6, 2021 at 12:00 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.