On February 3, the Baku Court of Appeal (BAC) dismissed a complaint about an administrative arrest for a period of 30 days. activist of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) Anar Huseynov.
He was detained on January 20 after participating in a march to the Alley of Martyrs. On the same day, the Sabail District Court found him guilty under the Article 510 (petty hooliganism) and 535.1 (not obeying the lawful police) of the Code of Administrative Offenses of Azerbaijan.
In an interview with Turan, Huseynov’s lawyer Neymat Karimli said that Huseynov rejected the administrative offenses imputed to him. At the same time, the lawyer pointed to the violation of Huseynov’s rights after the arrest and during the trial in the court of first instance.
Thus, Huseynov, after his arrest, was not allowed to contact his relatives, and he was tried even without a lawyer appointed at the expense of the state. Karimli noted that in administrative cases, the Court of Appeal is the last instance of appeal. In the future, a complaint will be sent to the European Court of Human Rights against Huseynov’s arrest.
It should be noted that on January 22, another PFPA activist Rovshan Safarov, who also participated in the march on January 20, was detained and arrested for 30 days.
“On January 20, on the Day of Sorrow, we intended to visit the Alley of Martyrs in an organized manner. But the police blocked our way. We had to wait a long time. Then our column was cut into several parts and they began to let them through to the Alley of Martyrs in small groups. They did this in order to make our participation not look massive,” PFPA leader Ali Karimli wrote on his Facebook page earlier.
After participating in the procession on January 20, 6 activists of the Muslim Unity Movement were also administratively arrested. The press service of the Interior Ministry rejected criticism of the police.
“In order to avoid a crush, visitors were allowed to enter the Alley of Martyrs one by one. We made no distinction for visitors based on political affiliation. Unfortunately, some people tried to violate the principle of priority and voiced various claims,” Turan was told in the department.
As for the arrests of PFPA and the Muslim Unity Movement activists, according to the representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, they were held accountable for “committing specific administrative offenses.”