Agil Maharramli is at large

Baku/25.05.22/Turan: A member of the Popular Front Party (PFPA), recognized as a political prisoner, Agil Maharramli (Maharramov)  has been released today after the expiration of a 4-year prison term.

A member of the PFPA Presidium, Maharramli, was arrested in May 2018 on a fabricated case of illegal financing of the PFPA and money laundering. He was sentenced to  four years in prison. Despite the right to parole, the courts repeatedly denied him this.

In the program "Difficult Question" Agil Maharramli told about his life in detention.

According to him, 4 years of imprisonment, in fact, were not so bad. “Looking back, you feel that these years have passed quickly. Although, when I was in custody, it didn’t seem so to me,” he said.

According to Maharramli, during his imprisonment there were gains, but there were also losses. “During this time we have gained something, we have lost something. However, what we have gained is more than what we have lost. We have acquired everything, the society has acquired. When I say loss, I mean separation from family, from children. But it's personal. And most importantly, this is our cause and it is right,” the activist said, adding that he had absolutely no regrets.

“I knew that the path we have chosen is thorny and arrests are possible along this path,” Maharramli noted.

According to the activist, he, the chairman of the Assembly of the Youth Committee of the PFPA Ruslan Nasirov, the chairman of the Narimanov branch of the PFPA Babek Hasanov, as well as the former head of the executive power of the Gadabay region Saleh Rustamov were accused and convicted of laundering dirty money, in response to the "Azerbaijani Laundromat" ("Azerbaijani laundry") is a complex money laundering operation by the Azerbaijani authorities, uncovered in September 2017 as part of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP - Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project)

“The Azerbaijani authorities wanted to prove that the opposition is engaged in money laundering, i.e. we. But, at the trial, it turned out that there was no question of any illegal business,  money laundering.

In fact, we were convicted for political activities. The authorities fabricated this case against us in order to harm the PFPA, prevent the organization from expanding, and sow an atmosphere of fear,” Maharramli said.

“In the near future, when the process of adaptation is completed, I will continue my political activities,” the oppositionist promises.—0—