Youth Condemns Repression from the Authorities

The organization Free Youth issued a statement condemning the repression of anti-government youth activists.

The document said that the start of repression began at the beginning of this year and is ongoing.

Courts arrested more than a dozen representatives of the independent and opposition youth on trumped-up charges.

The youth activist Ilkin Rustamzadeh is charged with two counts of Article 221 (hooliganism) and they have chosen to sentence him to detention for 2 months. Prosecutors accuse Rustamzadeh of the preparation and distribution of an Internet video with a dance in the style of "Harlem Shake". This is a purely entertaining dance, common in all countries of the world. If the prosecutor believes it spreads hooliganism, this shows the state of the law enforcement agencies of Azerbaijan. 

The statement authors attributed the arrest of Ilkin Rustamzadeh to his activity on social networks, as well as participation in protests against soldiers' deaths.

The statement recalled the arrested youth activists Uzeyir Mammadov, Rashad Hasanov, Rashadat Akhundov, Mohammad Azizov Shahin Novruzlu, Bakhtiyar Guliyev, Zaur Gurbanli, Tural Hassanzadeh, and Dashgin Melikov. -05D04-