Baku Mayoralty refuses to sanction opposition's march-rally

The Baku authorities have failed to sanction an action of the oppositional Popular Movement of Azerbaijan (PMA), scheduled for July 20; the movement calls for speeding up the settlement of the Karabakh conflict. The organizers have treated the refusal to sanction the demonstration as a violation of the freedom of assembly.

"Two weeks ago we applied to the executive authorities of Baku with a notification about our intention to hold a march-rally on July 20. The action aimed to call on the authorities to speed up the process of resolving the Karabakh conflict, liberate the occupied territories, and, finally, return the internally displaced persons to their homes," Agasif Shakiroglu, a member of the board of the PMA, the head of the "Future Azerbaijan" Party, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

However, on July 19, the organizers received an official refusal from the city administration.

"The Mayoralty's letter says that "President Ilham Aliev takes necessary steps, both at home and in the international arena, to resolve the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh and the liberation of our lands as soon as possible; and, therefore, it was considered 'inappropriate' to hold the action," Mr Shakiroglu has continued, treating the decision of the city administration as "violating human rights and the freedom of assembly."

"The city bosses still fail to understand that their duty is not to distribute 'recommendations', but to enforce the laws. The Constitution directly enshrines the freedom of assembly," Agasif Shakiroglu has stated.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 19, 2019 at 04:44 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.