Public activist Malik Rzayev, who was deported from Germany in June as a readmission and detained on October 25. He stated that he was tortured. This was reported to Turan by his lawyer Neymat Kerimli.
The lawyer joined the defense on November 1 and only on the 10th he got an opportunity to meet with Rzayev. According to him, Rzayev testified under torture. At the same time, in the period from October 30 to November 10, Rzayev was illegally transferred from the pre-trial detention center to the Sumgayit police twice.
“As a lawyer, I was not informed of about this,” Kerimli said. According to the lawyer, his client was beaten and threatened with raping.
The lawyer appealed to the Sumgayit Prosecutor’s Office to investigate the complaint. In turn, the head of the Department for Media Relations and public Relations of the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Elshad Hajiyev denied the fact of torture. “These allegations are completely unfounded to bring pressures on the investigation,” Hajiyev told Turan.
According to relatives, Rzayev was detained by plainclothes persons on October 25 in the village of Haji Zeynalabdin Tagiyev near Sumgayit. He was charged under Article 234.4.3 (illegal drug trafficking) of the Criminal Code and was arrested for 4 months by a court decision.
Rzayev denies the accusation. He was arrested practically simultaneously with the activist of the Party of People’s Front of Azerbaijan (PPFA) Mutallim Orujev, who had also been deported from Germany last summer. According to human rights activists, in Germany, both participated in actions to protect rights of political prisoners in Azerbaijan. Orujev is also charged under Article 234.4.3 of the Criminal Code. According to this Article, activists face imprisonment from 5 to 12 years.