09 March 2013, 12:00
In Azerbaijan, 15-year-old girl commits act of self-immolation against land confiscation
Almaz Kerimova, born in 1998, a resident of the township of Gyulyustan of the city of Gandzha, made an attempt of self-immolation. With third-degree burns she was taken to hospital.
The incident took place on March 7. The girl, according to local media, protested against the confiscation of her family's land, bought by the Kerimovs in 1996. Despite the fact that according to the court the land plot was handed over to the family, on March 7 policemen came and began to evict the Kerimovs.
Seeing that the policemen ignored the ruling and the documents on the land plot, Almaz threatened to set fire to herself. One of the policemen gave her a lighter; she poured gasoline on her and set fire to herself, according to the "Contact.az".
The flame on the teenager was extinguished. Currently, she is in hospital, where her condition is assessed as grave but stable.
The Azerbaijani MIA categorically denied the information about the policeman's inciting the girl to self-immolation. According to the MIA, the Kerimov family had grasped a land plot and kept building their house on it, the "Trend" reports.
