11 February 2019, 22:19
Five PFPA members detained during trial of their party comrade
The court has refused to release Zakhir Mamedli, the head of one of the branches of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA). Five activists, who came to the courthouse, were taken to the police station. Four of them were later released.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Zakhir Mamedli, the head of the Shamakhi PFPA branch, was arrested on February 5, 2019. On the same day, his party colleagues, Elnur Djabbarly and Elnur Yusubov, were arrested. The opposition linked their arrests with the failure of an attempt to open a new case against Mekhman Guseinov.
In March 2017, Mekhman Guseinov was sentenced to two years in prison on defamation charges; the court classified his complaints about torture as slander. Two months before the end of his prison term, the Penitentiary Service announced that Guseinov had beaten up a prison employee. Rights defenders believed that the new criminal case was a revenge for his criticism of the authorities. However, on January 22, after the President of Azerbaijan demanded to ensure the objectivity of the investigation, the case was closed.
The complaint against the administrative arrest of Zakhir Mamedli was considered today at the district court of appeal in Sumgait, Ilham Gusein, a member of the PFPA Presidium, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
Five PFPA members came to Sumgait to support Mamedli; however, the police would not let them into the courthouse. All the five were taken to the police station, but four were released after receiving an oral warning. According to Ilham Gusein, they spent about two hours at the station. "However, Makhir Rustamli was not released. He was taken away from the police station to some unknown place," Ilham Gusein has added.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 11, 2019 at 03:57 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Faik Medzhid Source: CK correspondent
