Talysh Separatist Fakhraddin Abbasov Disappeared in Moscow

Baku / 03/01/19 / Turan: On February 27, Fakhraddin Abbasov, an activist of the Talysh separatist movement wanted by the Azerbaijani authorities, disappeared from the Lyubertsy city remand prison in the Moscow region.

According to Amnesty International, on February 27, some law enforcement officers came to the remand prison and presented an official letter from the General Prosecutor's Office, ordering the release of Abbasov. They took the activist with them. At the same time, his personal belongings remained in the detention center.

On February 28 at 15:00 a trial in the Abbasov case was to take place. The court in connection with his disappearance postponed the meeting to March 18. Nothing is known about Abbasov"s location at the moment, Amnesty International reported.

Human rights activists believe that Abbasov could be extradited to Azerbaijan.

As for the personality of Fakhraddin Abbasov, he is one of the leaders of the Talysh separatist movement.

For many years he lived in Moscow and was detained at the request of the authorities of Azerbaijan in Lyubertsy on September 6, 2018. He is accused of "public calls for a violent change of the constitutional order" on the instructions of foreign organizations or their representatives (Article 281.2 and 283.1 of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan).

Abbasov is an associate of Alikram Hummatov, the leader of the self-proclaimed so-called "Talysh-Mugan Republic".

Official Baku has not yet commented on information on the possible extradition of Abbasov to Azerbaijan.

The historian Fakhraddin Abbasov taught in Baku State University in 1981-1995, and in 1993-1995 he was the editor of the newspaper Tolyshi Sado.

In 1993, during the military-political crisis in Azerbaijan, Abbasov became one of the leaders of Talysh separatism, taking the position of "chairman of the parliament" of the so-called "Talysh-Mugan Republic" proclaimed in the south of Azerbaijan.

In 1995 he moved to Russia, where he published the newspaper Tolysh. In May 2005, he attended the international conference on the Talysh problem, carried out in Armenia.

In Azerbaijan, the conference was regarded as support for separatism. -02D-