Fuad Gahramanli, Deputy Chairman of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (APFP), was detained on December 8, reports APFP chairman Ali Karimli.
“Fuad Gahramanli is at the Serious Crimes Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office. Investigator Parviz Ibayev informed me by telephone that a criminal case has been launched against Fuad Gahramanli, and invited me to the department,” said lawyer Fakhraddin Mehdiyev.
A criminal case against Gahramanli has been launched under Articles 281.1 (public appeals for violent seizure of authority, violent retention of authority or violent change in the constitutional grounds or infringement of territorial integrity of the Azerbaijan Republic, as well as distribution of materials of such contents) and 283.2.1 (incitement of national, racial or religious hatred and hostility with application of violence or threat of application) of the Criminal Code. Nasimi District Court has sentenced Gahramanli to three months’ detention.
Lawyer Fakhraddin Mehdiyev has said that the prosecution accuses Fuad Gahramanli of making appeals against the state on religious grounds via Facebook and the media, but Gahramanli rejects these charges, believing them to be politically motivated.
A search was conducted at Fuad Gahramanli’s apartment for nearly one hour, during which his computer was seized. Gahramanli’s lawyer was not in attendance.
Fuad Gahramanli received a telephone summons to the Serious Crimes Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office on December 7, but he asked that they send him an official summons. On December 8, in the afternoon, the police came to his apartment and he was forcibly taken to the department.