Court of Appeal Leaves PFPA Activist Detained

On Saturday the appeal against the administrative arrest of an activist of the youth committee of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) Nijat Nizamov was considered.

He was detained on January 9 and was sentenced the next day to ten days of administrative arrest on charges of not subordinating police.

The lawyer Asabali Mustafayev told Turan that, according to the police, the young man allegedly spoke loudly and swore at someone on the street on a mobile phone, and when the police called him to order, he ignored them and because of that he was detained.

According to the lawyer, it is formulaic charge that the police make against opposition activists to bring them to administrative responsibility.

In fact, Nizamov was taken from home and so he could not disobey the police while in his apartment.

The young man said in court that he is being persecuted for his publishing on Facebook. Thus, according to Nizamov, the police presented him a claim for entries on Facebook, and in particular for publishing statuses of the PFPA leader Ali Kerimli, criticism of the defendants in the "Nardaran case" and other publications.

Mustafayev said the defense will prepare a complaint with the Strasbourg Court. -06B-