24 September 2017, 17:15
Court arrests seven persons detained on eve of Baku rally
On September 23, the action under the slogan: "Stop Corruption, Freedom for Political Prisoners!" was held at the stadium in the Yasamal District of Baku. According to the preliminary estimates, the action gathered about 3000 people. The rally was provoked by the information stating that the Azerbaijani ruling elite bribed lobbyists in Europe. The information was released by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) on September 4.
On September 4, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) published a report stating that in 2012-2014 Azerbaijani authorities paid for the services of lobbyists of their interests in the European Union (EU). However, the country’s rights defenders and oppositionists, interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot", believe that this money had yielded no fruit on the international arena.
More than 50 activists who participated in the preparation of the rally were detained on the eve of the action. Most of them were fined by 200 manats (about 120 US dollars) and released after the rally. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Irada Nariman, a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Mejlis for the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) and the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF).
According to her, seven detainees were subjected to administrative arrests.
The NCDF will hire advocates to protect the rights of the arrested and detained activists, reported Irada Nariman. "Of course, we are not naive, and we do not believe that local courts will grant complaints about illegal actions of the authorities. However, we should go through all the national courts to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and to win the cases in the future," Irada Nariman said.
Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.
Author: Faik Medzhid Source: CK correspondent
