Tofig Yagublu claims police tortured him

Baku/01.12.21/Turan: A member of the National Council of Democratic Forces and the Musavat party Tofig Yagublu, detained today during a rally in support of the political prisoner Saleh Rustamov, was subjected to severe violence. He told about this to the Azerbaijani service the "Voice of America".

“I was beaten when detained at the Fountain Square. A special group from the Directorate for Combating Organized Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs arrived to the 39th police station, where I was taken. They put  my hands in handcuffs, threw me to the floor, put a plastic bag on my head and began to beat. Then they dragged me into a car. On the way, they continued to beat me.By the way they photographed my face. But, apparently they thought it was "not enough" and the beatings were continued, "Yagublu said.

According to the oppositionist, several times the car was stopped and policemen demanded  him to declare on a video camera that he was giving up political activity. However, he rejected this demand.

“Ultimately, I was abandoned in a desert area, somewhere in the area of ​​the Alat settlement (70 km south of Baku),” Yagublu said.

"I can't see. I have to open my eyelids with my hands to look. They beat me mainly on the face, head, arms, legs, all over my body," Yagublu said. He said he would file a complaint about the violence against him.

In turn, the head of the media and public relations department of the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Police Major Elshad Hajiyev, said that the allegations that Tofig Yagublu was beaten and subjected to special pressure at the police station are unfounded. “But despite all this, these allegations will be properly investigated,” Hajiyev said.

A photo of Yagublu with pronounced traces of violence on his face has been circulated on social networks. According to information from human rights activists, about 40 people were detained during the action. Some of them were subjected to violence. The most severe beatings, besides Yagubla, were the PFPA members Pasha Dadashzade, Sagif Gurbanov and Babek Hasanov. By the evening, almost everyone was released, except for a member of the PFPA presidium Ilham Huseynov and a youth activist Rustam Ismailbeyli. — 06B-