"Musavat" leaders complain about pressure from Azerbaijani GPO

Gyulyaga Aslanly, the head of the office of the oppositional "Musavat" Party, was questioned at the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Azerbaijan; the incumbent and the former chairs of the party have also been summoned for questioning. They figure as witnesses in the case of receiving by country residents of the emigrant status abroad under false documents.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that the "Musavat" Party is one of the most active oppositional groups in Azerbaijan. It was against the appointment of Mekhriban Alieva, the wife of President Ilham Aliev, to the post of First Vice-President of Azerbaijan, at the background of which the country saw a new wave of oppositionists’ arrests.

"The reason for the call to the GPO was the interrogation under the case about ‘the persons, who are trying to get the emigrant’s status abroad by using falsified documents’. Prosecutors claim that some persons manage to receive the status; and investigators try to accuse ‘Musavat’ of this," said Aslanly.

He is sure that the inquiry has to do with the establishment of the “Musavat” European Coordination Centre, registered in Germany. On February 18, the centre, which unites political emigrants, held in Cologne a large protest action against human rights violations in Azerbaijan.

Also, on February 27, the GPO summoned Arif Gadjily, the head of the "Musavat" Party, and Isa Gambar, a former party leader, now the head of the Centre of National Strategic Thought. According to Gadjily, this indicates an increase of authorities’ pressure on the party.

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