Arrests of Protesters Continue in Mingechevir

Arrests of protesters that began after the death of 27-year-old Bahruz Hajiyev in the local police continue in Mingechevir. On the day of the August 22 action, 21 people were arrested and half of them, according to police, were released on the same day, subjected to administrative fines.

However, according to information from local sources, the arrests continued on the following days. Law enforcement agencies watch videos from the action and detain those who appear in the film.

According to unofficial data, 25-30 people are currently in custody and it is unclear what articles they are charged on.

The Interior Ministry and the Prosecutor General's Office do not provide information on this subject.

At the same time, according to the media, a criminal case has been launched under Article 315.2 on beating the local prosecutor's office investigator by people close to the deceased. This was during the inspection of the body in the morgue.

 Earlier, the Interior Ministry reported on the police officers injured during the protest.

Only one police officer, Shahlar Shahlarzadeh, was arrested upon the death of Hajiyev.

Relatives of the deceased believe that those who detained Hajiyev and interrogated him in the police should be arrested, too. They do not believe in the version that Hajiyev threw himself out of the window.

Hajiyev’s father Dilsuz Hajiyev said that his son was tortured with a stun and his heart stopped from that. And then he was thrown out of the window by the police. The body of the deceased had traces of stun use and other forms of violence.

(The video from the morgue is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFIMdb5Ndtw)).

Law enforcement authorities say that Hajiyev was arrested as a suspect of the use and sale of drugs. His father categorically rejects the version that his son was involved in drugs.

According to the leader of the Popular Front Party Ali Kerimli, if there were not the protests of youth in Mingechevir, the case of Hajiyev’s death in police would be "hushed up" as other similar facts.

It was after the protests of the local population that the police arrested Shahlarzadeh indicted under Article 125 (inciting to suicide) and 308.2 (abuse of power, resulting in serious consequences).

"All participants of the peaceful protest against the death of Bahruz Hajiyev should be released," wrote Kerimli on his Facebook page.

The Chairman of the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF) Jamil Hasanli said that the story of Hajiyev’s death exposed the "depressing moral atmosphere in the police system of Azerbaijan."

"According to the official version, Bakhruz threw himself out of the window when he was left unattended by a detective, who had gone out to look for the witnesses.

Why, after the citizen’s delivery to the police, was he not allowed a contact with his relatives and was not given a lawyer? Why was the body of the dead taken to a remote morgue without notifying the family?" Hasanli wrote on his Facebook page. -06D-