Rights defenders call on to release "Nardaran case" convicts

The Azerbaijani National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF) and the international Human Rights Watch (HRW) have condemned the authorities for the sentences to long prison terms passed to 18 figurants in the "Nardaran case", including the theologian Talekh Bagirzade and the oppositionist Fuad Gakhramanly.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 25 the court in Baku convicted Talekh Bagirzade, the leader of the "Muslim Unity" Movement, and his 16 supporters on charges of riots in the village of Nardaran, as well as Fuad Gakhramanly, the Deputy Chairman of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA). They received from 10 to 20 years in prison.

The NCDF has treated the verdict as "unjust", "cruel" and "the most shameful in the history of Azerbaijan." The Council has called on citizens to "get actively involved in peaceful struggle for democracy."

"This trial has brought closer the traditional democratic opposition and the believers, who are fighting for the ideas of the secular state," said Djamil Gasanly, the head of the NCDF.

Sentences passed based on false evidence and torture are violations of basic human rights, the HRW has stated.

Leyla Yunus, a rights defender and the Director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD), believes that Azerbaijani authorities are afraid of any civil activeness.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.