National Council condemns repressions against activists

Baku/25.04.22/Turan: The National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF) condemned the kidnapping of activist Bahtiyar Hajiyev. The NCDF statement noted that Hajiyev was abducted on April 21, subjected to physical pressure, humiliation and forced to delete posts on his Facebook account about the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The NCDF strongly condemned this criminal act, demanding  the punishment of those responsible.

The NCDF is sure that Hajiyev's abduction was carried out either with the consent of the authorities, or at their direction. “Until now, Hajiyev has been subjected to cruel moral terror, threats and pressure from law enforcement agencies, and even physical violence, including the Baku Main Police Department.

The reason is the active civil position of the activist, his systematic criticism of the anti-people activities of the government,” the statement says. Another example of repression is the beating and detention of human rights activist Rufat Safarov by the police in front of the Baku Court of Appeal.

Among the criminal practices of recent months are also the arrests and torture of activists expelled from Germany. One of them was Samir Ashurov, who was arrested on trumped-up charges of stabbing. Earlier, Malik Rzayev, Mutallim Orujov, Jafar Mirzayev and Pyunkhan Karimli, who were also deported from Germany on readmission, were arrested on trumped-up charges of drug trafficking.

The government of Ilham Aliyev, taking advantage of the fact that the attention of the world community is focused on Ukraine, believes that it is possible to intensify repressions against their opponents, the statement says. -06B-