Police disrupt action demanding to release Salekh Rustamov

Eleven people were detained in Baku during an action in support of Salekh Rustamov, the police used excessive force.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on February 27, in Azerbaijan, Salekh Rustamov, a citizen of Russia, an activist of the Popular Front Party (PFPA), was sentenced to seven years and three months of imprisonment. Later, the Supreme Court (SC) reduced the sentence by two months. On November 6, Salekh Rustamov went on a hunger strike.

On December 11, a group of activists of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) tried to hold an action in Rustamov's support. The event was held in central of Baku, near the "May 28" metro station, and started at about 3:00 p.m. The activists began chanting "Freedom for Salekh bek!" (bek is a form of respectful address to a man), but were immediately detained by policemen.

Nine protesters, including seven women, were detained, Tezekhan Miralamli, a member of the NGO "Defence Line", told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "Zafar Akhmedov and Zaur Akper, members of the 'Defence Line', who were monitoring the action, were also detained. By the evening they were all released by taking to a remote outskirt of Baku. However, Zafar Akhmedov's arm was injured. Even in spite of the venerable age of this man and his human rights work, policemen were rude with him. Excessive force was used against the protesters during detention," Mr Miralamli has concluded.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 11, 2021 at 11:15 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.