PFPA leader treats arrest of two activists as political persecution

Novruz Tagiev, a bodyguard of the leader of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) has been arrested within a criminal case; another PFPA activist, Rashad Aliev, has been sentenced to 25 days of administrative arrest.

The above PFPA activists, Novruz Tagiev and Rashad Aliev, stopped communicating with their comrades on May 20. A day later, party activists found out that both activists got under arrest independently of each other.

Novruz Tagiev, who served as the bodyguard of Ali Kerimli, PFPA leader, on a voluntary basis, has been arrested under a fraud criminal case (Article 178.2 of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan, which provides for up to five years in jail). The circumstances of his case are still unknown; and the local Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has not officially commented on them, the “Meydan” TV reports.

In his turn, Rashad Aliev, a PFPA member of the party branch in the Khatai District (of Baku), was sentenced to administrative arrest for 25 days. There is no information yet about what he was charged with.

Ali Kerimli, the PFPA leader, has expressed confidence that both activists were arrested for political reasons; and that the cases against them were fabricated. Both Tagiev and Aliev accompanied Kerimli to various events, as did their party comrades arrested in recent months.

According to Kerimli, Azerbaijani authorities are specifically persecuting activists close to him, sending a signal to PFPA supporters to distance themselves from Kerimli. "Over the past two months, eight activists have already been arrested for driving me to various events in their cars or accompanying me to these events. (...) Such repressions show not authorities’ power, but fear of the free and fair competition," Mr Kerimli has written.

This was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 22, 2025 at 01:26 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.