Complaint against NIDA Activist's Arrest Rejected

Baku / 22.11.17 / Turan: The Baku Appeals Court upheld the decision to arrest the activist of the NIDA movement Umman Deniz (Safarov) for 15 days. The defense intends to apply to the European Court of Human Rights.

Safarov was arrested for 15 days on November 14. The Khatai District Court of Baku found him guilty under Article 535.1 (not subordination to the lawful demands of a police representative) of the Administrative Offenses Code. NIDA believes he was arrested for political activities and distribution of critical materials in social networks.

On November 22, the Baku Appeals Court dismissed the complaint about the administrative arrest of Deniz, the lawyer Fakhraddin Mehdiyev told Turan.

According to the lawyer, Safarov said he was detained by three people in civilian clothes and taken to the police department. There, the young man was asked to "stop writing anti-government things" on Facebook. He was preconditioned; either he gives confessions that he committed an administrative offense and "did not obey the police", or he would be prosecuted and sent to prison for a long term.

Safarov is a fourth-year student at the Journalism Faculty of the Baku State University. In order not to interrupt his studies, he signed a testimony about his disobedience to the police, continued the lawyer Mehdiyev

The defense intends to apply to the European Court of Human Rights, the lawyer concluded. -06D-