Azerbaijani political emigrants demanded the release of activists arrested after expulsion from Germany

Baku/01.10.22/Turan: Protests of Azerbaijani political emigrants took place in front of the editorial offices of the newspapers "Giessener Allgemeine" və "Giessener Anzeiger" in the German city of Giessen.

The participants of the action held by the organization "Choose a Democratic Azerbaijan" called for solidarity in the demands of Ziya Ibrahimov and other activists arrested in Azerbaijan after the deportation from Germany.

Activist Aynur Rzayeva drew attention to the persecution of journalists and bloggers in Azerbaijan, and in particular the murders of Elmar Huseynov, Rafig Tagi, Rasim Aliyev, Mehman Galandarli.

She also drew attention to the practice of arresting journalists for their professional work and interference in their private lives. The office of Radio "Azadlyg" has been closed in the country, access to the websites of this media outlet, as well as the "Azadlyg" newspaper, the Meydan TV online publication, the Turan TV satellite channel, etc., has been blocked.

On September 11, the head of the YouTube channel  "Khural TV" Avaz Zeynalli and lawyer Elchin Sadigov were arrested. Rzayeva pointed to the presence of 120 political prisoners in the country.

Another activist Abdulhuseyn Alekperov focused on the arrests in Azerbaijan of political emigrants expelled from Germany and the use of torture against them. In particular, Mutallim Orujev, Malik Rzayev, Punhan Karimli, Samir Ashurov, Jafar Mirzoev, deported from Germany after being denied asylum, were charged with trumped-up charges in Azerbaijan.

They were subjected to torture in order to obtain confessions. Karimli has already been sentenced to 6 years in prison, Rzayev to 7 years. Anar Aliyev was also arrested in Azerbaijan, who received refugee status in Germany on humanitarian grounds and came to visit his parents.

At the same time, the authorities forbade his family to return to Germany, and as a result, two children are deprived of education.

Another activist, Oktay Abdullayev, drew attention to the case of blogger Rashad Ramazanov, who was arrested after returning to the country from Georgia.  Ziya Ibrahimov was detained immediately at the airport by the ambassador of deportation from Germany and handed over to the police. After a month of administrative arrest, a criminal case was opened against him for allegedly not complying with a court decision.

Ibrahimov repeatedly participated in protests in Germany against human rights violations and criticized the Azerbaijani authorities on social networks.

The protesters called on the German authorities to demand that the Azerbaijani government comply with the terms of the readmission agreement and release the above-mentioned persons and other political prisoners, as well as demand respect for human rights in the bilateral political dialogue. --06B--