Detained Protesters in Ganja Released

Baku / 23.04.19 / Turan: Late yesterday evening, active participants of yesterday"s protest in front of the Ganja city administration were detained and taken to the police, head of the Center for the Protection of Political Prisoners Oktay Gyulalyev told Turan. According to him, these were the mothers of those arrested in the Ganja events of July 2018. After a few hours, everyone was released.

"They took explanatory notes from them and warned them about the inadmissibility of the rally. The people demanded to punish the head of the Ganja police and an employee of the city prosecutor"s office who tortured those arrested," Gyulalyev said.

It was not possible to get comments from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ganja Police Headquarters.

* Recall that in Ganja, family members of those arrested in connection with the July 2018 events on April 22 held a protest in front of the city executive authority.

The parents consider the arrest of their children illegal and falsified and demand their release. The police pushed them aside and took away the portraits of their arrested children.

** In July 2018, an attempt was made on the head of the city, Elmar Veliyev, in Ganja. According to unofficial data, the reason for this was Veliyev"s boorish behavior and his regular insult to residents. The man who attempted the assassination - a resident of the city, Yunis Safarov, tried to shoot Veliyev, but only wounded him and was detained.

After 10 days, riots broke out in the city, demanding the release of Safarov and an assessment of the behavior of the Mayor. During the clashes of protesters with the police, two police officers were killed.

After that, mass arrests and prosecutions of protesters began. Authorities blamed radical Islamists for organizing the unrest. -0-