Nizami District Court of Baku on 31 January sentenced social activist Fuad Ismayilov to one month of administrative arrest.
He was found guilty under Article 535.1 (failure to obey lawful demands of police) of the Code of Administrative Offences.
Note that Ismayilov was detained on January 29, the day after he lowered the Turkish flag posted in the street near the Neftchilar metro station.
Human rights activist Fikret Jafarli, who visited Ismayilov at the police station on Jan. 31, told Turan that the activist explained to him reasons for his action.
“Fuad said that he did it deliberately and explained the reason. Fuad said that both the Azerbaijani and Turkish flags are equally dear to him. And by tearing down the Turkish flag he wanted to draw public attention to a number of serious problems. In particular, according to Fuad, owners of night bars, illegally operating brothels, and gambling establishments in Surakhani hang Azeri and Turkish flags above them in an effort to cover their immoral actions.
All this is happening in front of children, women and the elderly. With this action Fuad meant to draw attention to the problem,” said Jafarli.
Fuad Ismayilov had been detained and arrested before.
In February 2020 he was detained after writing a critical slogan about the CEC leadership due to falsified parliamentary elections.
Two weeks later he was arrested for two months on charges of illegal drug use.
In May of the same year, Ismailov was arrested for 2 months on the same charge.