Famous human rights activist Emil Mammadov is detained in Saliyan region

A head of a local NGO  "Promoting Democracy", Emil Mammadov, was detained in Saliyan region on suspicion of extortion.  He himself managed to tell Turan  about it on the telephone from Salyan district police. Later Mamedov’s phone was disconnected.

Earlier, on April 17, another activist of the NGO  "Promoting Democracy", Tofig Gasimov, was arrested  for  two months on charges of extortion. Under pressure , he slandered Mamedov and refused independent  lawyer. In exchange,  they promised to release, but after giving testimonies, the  court chose preventive measure  against Gasimov.

Thereafter , Mamedov was repeatedly summoned to the police of  Salyan , where the heads of various regional departments – post office, financial management, and others evidenced against him that he allegedly extorted money from them in exchange for not publishing compromising information on the Internet. In the course of "confrontations"  the regional  officials accused him of  "hostile activity  with the grants  from the U.S. Embassy," but these statements are not reflected in the records of investigative activities. Previously Mammadov  himself told about it Turan. He called these charges a  fiction. Mammadov said that the lawsuit was  falsified  by the leadership of Salyan for exposing corruption in their  region.

* NGOs "Promoting Democracy" is one of the most active civil society institutions in the southern region.  Its  head Mammadov repeatedly publicized cases of corruption in the structures of the region’s  authorities , as well as defended the civil rights of local residents . This NGO was involved in several projects of the  network of civilian control in the mining industry.

This caused severe irritation of the authorities , and they launched a campaign against the activists  accusing him of anti-state activities.

*Emil Mammadov  is known as an intelligent, moral person. Thank to his activity, an agreements  was signed between the administration of iodine plant  and the local community in Neftichala  on environmental protection, between the oil production in Salyan and the local community on the development of local infrastructure and environment, the rights of the local oil industry workers and staff during the construction of the Baku-Alat road were protected. Thanks  to Mamedov  were preserved from destruction by the builders of the Baku-Alat road ancient burial jars, and  an expedition of the National Academy of Sciences was formed. Emil Mammadov played an important role in eliminating the consequences of the 2010 floods in Salyan. Through organized interaction with the executive power it became possible to  solve many problems, including receiving compensation, providing housing, safe functioning of the Kura river bed, etc.  -06B—