Azerbaijani human rights activist calls search illegal

A search was conducted at the home of Azerbaijani human rights activist Zafar Akhmedov. He and his son were interrogated for several hours at the prosecutor's office, after which they were released. Akhmedov called the search illegal, since he is a witness in the case.

Security officials came to the home of Zafar Akhmedov, a member of the human rights organization "Line of Defense", early in the morning.

"An investigator from the Prosecutor General's Office, six operatives and two witnesses came to us early in the morning. Having presented a court order, they began a search. They seized all the phones and computers that we had at home. My son Fuad and I were taken to the Prosecutor General's Office. For two hours, we were interrogated as witnesses in a criminal case that had been opened many years ago, to which we had nothing to do. After that, we were held until 6 p.m. (5 p.m. Moscow time) and then released," Akhmedov told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to the human rights activist, the seized electronic devices were returned to him. "Unfortunately, yesterday my son was fired from the job he had found with such difficulty," he noted. Akhmedov.

Akhmedov called the search illegal, "since searches are not conducted at the witness's place."

It was not possible to obtain comments from the Prosecutor General's Office.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" wrote, Zafar Akhmedov's son Fuad Akhmedli had previously been persecuted. He was detained in August 2016 and accused of disseminating the personal data of subscribers of the cellular company where he worked. In June 2017, Akhmedli was sentenced to four years in prison under the articles "Violation of the legislation on operational-search activities" and "Abuse of office." The defense considered the sentence a political order. In August 2020, Akhmedli was released after serving his sentence.

In October 2021, Fuad Akhmedli was sentenced to 30 days of administrative arrest on charges of petty hooliganism after he came to the courthouse to support his comrade-in-arms of the Popular Front Party, Niyameddin Akhmedov.

On December 3, 2024, the executive director of the human rights organization "Line of Defense" Rufat Safarov was detained in Baku and arrested the next day. On June 30, at a preparatory court hearing, Safarov was denied transfer to house arrest. Safarov is accused of embezzling money from Natig Imamguliyev, who handed it over for the purchase land plot and did not receive it back when the deal fell through. Safarov denied the charges and said the criminal case was fabricated. On December 6, he planned to fly to the United States to receive a human rights award at a ceremony dedicated to International Human Rights Day. On December 10, 2024, Safarov was awarded in absentia with the US State Department award.

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