Azerbaijani oppositionist arrested for 15 days

Alizamin Salaev, an activist of the oppositional Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), has been sentenced to 15 days of administrative arrest on charges of disobedience to the police. The party treats his arrest as politically motivated.

Law enforcers took Alizamin Salaev away from his home in the city of Salyan in the morning on May 7; and the court sentenced him to 15 days of arrest under an article on disobeying to lawful demands of policemen, Gezyal Bairamly, the PFPA deputy head, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"The accusation is absurd. Alizamin Salaev is arrested for the third time this year under the same article," Ms Bairamly has stated.

According to her story, since the start of the year, more than 60 people have been subjected to administrative arrests. "Arrests began already right after the New Year in connection with the support of the blogger Mekhman Guseinov, who was holding a hunger strike. Arrests became massive on the eve of the oppositional rally on January 19, and every time, when new rallies were announced. Now, it looks like they've launched a new cycle of arrests," she has explained.

Ms Bairamly is sure that Salaev is persecuted because he is an active oppositionist.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 7, 2019 at 04:27 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.