Oppositionists' family disagree with the verdict to attacker on their daughter in Baku

A court in Baku upheld the decision to arrest for 15 days Tural Garaev, who hit a minor daughter of the deputy chairman of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA). The girl's parents intend to appeal against this decision at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The court failed to conduct an objective investigation, said Zibeida Sadygova, an advocate.

The daughter of the PFPA's deputy chairman was beaten up on April 17 in Baku. "A man attacked her and hit her in the face. He said: 'Your parents criticize President Ilham Aliev; they work for foreigners.' He also accused my daughter of criticizing the authorities in social networks," the girl's mother told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. She believes that authorities are blackmailing oppositionists by creating problems for their children.

The woman has stressed that she expected no justice from the Azerbaijani court.

The attack on the oppositionist's daughter is a result of the xenophobic propaganda by pro-governmental mass media, said Ogtai Gyulyalyev, the coordinator of the Centre for the Protection of Political Prisoners.

"They picture the opposition as 'nation's enemies' ... The harassment of oppositionists can have dangerous consequences. In 2011, a 14-year-old son of an oppositionist, hunted down at school, could not withstand insults, stabbed the offender, and the latter died. As a result, one teenager lost his life, and the other found himself in jail," Mr Gyulyalyev has noted.