BCA leaves PFPA activist in custody

The Baku Court of Appeal (BCA) did not grant a complaint against the arrest of Mutallim Orudjev, an activist of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan. The activist denied the charge of drug trafficking and claimed that he had signed a confession under torture.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that Mutallim Orudjev was detained on October 23. He was prosecuted under the article on drug trafficking on a large scale. According to Natig Adilov, the head of the press service for the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), Mutallim Orudjev left for Germany several years ago and continued his political activities there, but was deported to Azerbaijan this year.

“Mutallim Orudjev said that on October 22, he was summoned to the police department and was forced under physical pressure to confess to drug trafficking. The activist was threatened with big trouble if he refused to sign a confession,” advocate Nemat Kerimli said.

The advocate claims that Mutallim Orudjev confessed to drug trafficking under torture. According to the investigators’ version, an operation to detain Mutallim Orudjev was allegedly carried out, and law enforcers found heroin with him. Mutallim Orudjev believes that he is being prosecuted because of his political activities in Germany. The activist notes that he does not even smoke or drink alcoholic beverages and that he has never been involved in drugs.

The PFPA believes that the activist was arrested on a “slanderous charge.”

Earlier, there were arrests of activists who returned from political migration to Azerbaijan. In October 2018, Azad Gasanov was arrested after returning from Lithuania. The oppositionist claimed he agreed to the charge under threat of torture. On August 5, Azad Gasanov was found guilty of drug trafficking, but released after the mitigation of the punishment.