Why was Bakhtiyar Hajiyev detained?

Baku/21.12.22/Turan: On December 20, the Khatai District Court did not satisfy the petition of public activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev to be released under house arrest. The US State Department once again called for his release.  “Last week we expressed concern over the arrest of Bakhtiyar Hajiyev on the eve of Human Rights Day. We called on the Azerbaijani authorities to release him promptly,” spokesman Ned Price said at a daily briefing.

A group of representatives of civil society in Azerbaijan expressed deep concern about the starvation of Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, who was arrested on charges of public activities, hooliganism, and contempt of court, in a pre-trial detention center.

“At a time when the negotiation process on a peace agreement with Armenia is underway and relations with Iran are deteriorating, steps that can cause internal tension, contrary to the national interests of our country, are unacceptable. We consider the practice of detaining innocent people as a means of political pressure to be the main source of internal political tension,” the authors of the statement note.

The authors call on Hajiyev to end the hunger strike and the government to reverse the unjust decision against the activist.

Nasimi Mammadli, one of the authors of the petition, commented on this situation in the “Difficult Question” program.

According to Mammadli, the problem of political prisoners has not lost its relevance in Azerbaijan for 30 years.

“The independence of the country and the problem of political prisoners can be said to be the same age. And therefore, the problem of Bakhtiyar Hajiyev should be approached precisely from this angle," he said, adding that any dissent, anything that could in one form or another threaten the corporate interests of the Azerbaijani authorities means a violation of the red lines, and therefore innocent citizens are arrested.

He is deeply convinced that these arrests have no legal basis and are carried out by order of the authorities. “Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, who was already a political prisoner, is educated, has the ability to establish international relations, enjoys confidence among young people and citizens in general, which makes him too uncomfortable,” Mammadli stressed.

He is sure that the recently intensified persecution of Bakhtiyar Hajiyev is a political order from the authorities. —0—