Activist Bakhtiyar Gadjiev reports kidnapping and beating

In Baku, four masked men have attacked Bakhtiyar Gadjiev, an activist, and kidnapped him. By using violence they demanded from him to delete his critical posts about the head of the Azerbaijan Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), the activist asserts.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in March, Bakhtiyar Gadjiev, who is also the head of the NGO "Positive Changes" claimed that he had been beaten up by law enforcers after his action held near the Azerbaijani MIA building.

According to Gadjiev, he was attacked in the evening in central Baku and taken away to some unknown place, where he was "subjected to humiliation; and they demanded from him to remove his posts about the MIA head."

"They took my clothes off and began urinating on me. All this was filmed on a camera," the activist said.

The kidnappers, he said, threatened him with execution if he continued criticizing the minister. Then they blindfolded him, took him to a deserted place and left him there.

Rufat Safarov, the executive director of the NGO "Defence Line", has treated the incident with Gadjiev as outrageous, adding that "Gadjiev had been subjected to law enforcers' pressure; but what has happened to him now is a complete lawlessness."

Let us remind you that in April 2021, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ordered the Azerbaijani authorities to pay Gadjiev compensation in the amount of 12,850 euros. Then, Bakhtiyar claimed his illegal arrest on charges of evading military service.