Baku police disrupt Shakhbaz Guliev's protest action

On April 1, Shakhbaz Guliev, who spent six years in prison in Nagorno-Karabakh, intended to hold a protest action outside the Azerbaijani presidential administration. He planned to demand a pension, disability category and assistance in employment. Policemen detained him, but took him from the police station to the Centre for receiving complaints from citizens of Azerbaijan.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in 2014, Shakhbaz Guliev and Dilgam Askerov were sentenced by the court of Nagorno-Karabakh to 22 years and life imprisonment, respectively. On November 6, 2020, it became known that Guliev and Askerov were transferred to Armenia from the prison in Shushi. On December 15, as part of prisoners' exchange, 44 people returned to Armenia, and 14 to Azerbaijan, including Guliev and Askerov.

On April 1, Shakhbaz Guliev was detained by policemen in Baku on his way to the presidential administration, where he intended to hold a protest action. After a short persuasion, policemen put Guliev into a police car and took him to the Baku Main Police Department, from where he was taken to the above Centre for receiving complaints from citizens of Azerbaijan. There, Guliev got registered in the electronic queue for meeting with an administration official, Guliev himself told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to his story, he went to the presidential administration in connection with his plight – he is not awarded the status of a war veteran, they do not pay him military pension, and they do not give him a disability category and don't provide him with the desired job.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 1, 2022 at 10:03 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.