Azerbaijani Popular Front Party activist Zaur Rzaly has been arrested for 30 days on charges of disobeying police and petty hooliganism. Associates called Rzaly’s arrest politically motivated.
A member of the Binagadi district branch of the PFPA, Zaur Rzaly, was detained in Baku this afternoon. “Zaur Rzaly was detained by three plainclothes men when he took his car to a car wash. We spent several hours searching for Zaur Rzaly, and only in the evening did we learn that by decision of the Narimanov District Court he had been arrested for 30 days. He was charged under Articles 510 (petty hooliganism) and 535.1 (failure to comply with lawful police orders) of the Code of Administrative Offenses. As it turned out, within just two hours Zaur Rzaly was detained, taken to the police, a report was drawn up, brought to court and convicted. Apparently, he had a lawyer appointed by law. We do not know the details of what was written in the case, but it is obvious that the case is fabricated and the arrest is political in nature,” Natig Adilov, head of the PFPA press service, told a “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.
He added that an independent lawyer will be brought in to defend Rzaly, who will appeal the decision to arrest the activist. Speaking about the probable reasons for Rzaly’s arrest, Adilov drew attention to the fact that the activist was a volunteer driver for the leader of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan, Ali Kerimli.
“Zaur Rzaly, when necessary, drove Ali Kerimli to various meetings and events. Today, he was supposed to drive Ali Kerimli to court in the case of Abzas Media journalists, but he was detained. Apparently, the authorities are trying to make sure that no one is left in Ali Kerimli’s entourage: his volunteer bodyguard Kenan Zeynalov was recently arrested on a fabricated criminal case, and his other volunteer bodyguard Niyameddin Akhmedov has been in prison for five years in connection with a false criminal case. Now Zaur Rzaly has also been arrested,” the party representative said.
An employee of the Narimanov District Court confirmed the information about Rzaly’s arrest. “Caucasian Knot” was unable to obtain comments from the Ministry of Internal Affairs in connection with the activist’s arrest.