Activist expelled from university

Baku/14.05.19/Turan: An activist of the NIDA movement, a former "prisoner of conscience" Bayram Mammadov was expelled from the Baku Slavic University (BSU). According to Mamedov, the university representatives phoned his home and told about it Mamedov, along with another young activist Giyas Ibrahimov, was arrested on May 10, 2016 after drawing graffiti on the monument to Heydar Aliyev. The young people were sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of a large-scale drug trafficking. They were recognized by Prisoners of Conscience by Amnesty International. In March of this year, both were pardoned by the President of Azerbaijan. At the time of his arrest, Mamedov was studying at the 4th year of BSU. According to Mamedov, after being released from prison in March of this year, he went to BSU to recover from his studies.

"Then they told me that in 2016 I did not participate in the exams and therefore I must come in September to re-take the course and even said that I can immediately retake the exams without coming to class. But today they called home and said that I was expelled from the BSU," Mammadov said. The activist noted that after his arrest, he applied to the university with a request to allow him to pass exams in absentia. "The then rector Asef Hajiyev conveyed a message that this is impossible, but after being released, I can continue my studies at any time," Mammadov said.

The press service of the BSU said that Mamedov was expelled from the university immediately after his arrest, and this was under the former rector. "Last week Mamedov applied for continuing studies. However, after his documents were raised, it became known that he was expelled in 2016. We informed his family about this," the BSU said. The press service of the BSU refrained from answering the question of whether Mamedov could reinstate himself at the university, noting that he could not say anything specifically about this.

On March 29, two weeks after his release, Mamedov was arrested for 30 days on charges of not submitting to the police. This happened after they criticized the authorities in the media and social networks. Mamedov said he was tortured in police custody. -21B--