Branches of two oppositional parties forced out of their offices in Sheki

By decision of the authorities, regional branches of the oppositional "People's Front Party of Azerbaijan" (PFPA) and the "Musavat" Party have been evicted from their offices in the Azerbaijani town of Sheki. The parties treat this decision as politically motivated.

According to Gezyal Bairamly, the PFPA’s deputy chair, the branches of the oppositional parties has their offices in the same building in Sheki.

"Repression against our party continues. On February 7, Islam Gasanov, the head of the Sheki district branch of the PFPA, was sentenced to a 25-day arrest; and on February 8, Samir Gasanov, the head of the youth wing of the same branch, was sentenced to 20 days of arrest," Ms Bairamly has reminded.

Gyulyaga Aslanly, the head of the executive machinery of the "Musavat" Party, has also stated that "the local branch of the party in Sheki was evicted from its office." "The authorities have launched a new campaign of pressing the opposition," he said.

Khalid Agaliev, and independent legal expert and a member of the Media Rights Institute (MRI), said that he "finds the evictions without a court judgement illegal."

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