Fourth Member of Shahbazov Family Detained in Nardaran

Baku / 10.05.17 / Turan: A resident of the village of Nardaran Natig Shahbazov was detained by police officers on suspicion of illegal storage of weapons. This is the fourth member of the Shahbazov family who were brought to criminal responsibility after a special operation by law enforcers in Nardaran on November 26, 2015.

Turan was informed about this by the lawyer Fariz Namazli.

Natig Shahbazov's father Atabala Shahbazov was arrested after the Nardaran events on December 1, 2015. He was charged with illegal possession of weapons.

Then Natig's brother, Ali Shahbazov, was offered by the police that one of the brothers should take on the "guilt", and he was promised that his father would be released in exchange for that. Ali decided to take responsibility for alleged storage of weapons in their house. Ali was arrested and added 10 more articles, including terrorism, and now he is going through the so-called Nardaran Case-2 together with the deputy chairman of the movement Muslim Unity Elchin Gasimov. And his father Atabala Shahbazov was never released and sentenced to 2.5 years in prison.

The third man arrested from this family was Fail Shahbazov, whose rights are defended by the lawyer Namazli. He actively participated in the group of public support during the trial of the leader of the movement Muslim Unity Taleh Bagirzadeh and other 17 activists. In addition, he distributed photos of the destroyed graves of the four civilians killed during the special operation in Nardaran on November 26, 2015, in social networks in the Internet. Fail Shahbazov was arrested in April of this year and offered to confess to disobedience to the police, promised to limit the punishment to administrative arrest. He was first arrested for 30 days. But later he was also accused of illegal possession of weapons. Now the trial of him is continuing, Namazli said.

On May 8, the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that "during the operational activities conducted by the employees of the 42nd branch of the Sabunchu district police department in the backyard of a resident of Nardaran, previously convicted Natig Shahbazov, a cut-off shotgun Izh-12, a silencer and eight cartridges of different calibers were exposed." 

Atabala Shahbazov, Ali Shahbazov and Fail Shahbazov were included in the list of 162 political prisoners, which was announced by the Center for the Protection of Political Prisoners on April 1.

Earlier, another resident of Nardaran, Alasgar Jabbarov, was arrested on charges of illegal possession of weapons. His brother, activist of the Muslim Unity movement, Jabbar Jabbarov, was sentenced to 19 years in prison in January of this year.

After the special operation in Nardaran in November 2015, dozens of local residents were arrested in this settlement. Most of them were charged with illegal possession of weapons. Many have already been convicted. However, it seems that the arrests are still ongoing. -35B--