Germany deported civil activist Samir Ashurov

Baku/31.03.22/Turan: Civil activist Samir Ashurov, 37, was among the thirty-eight citizens of Azerbaijan deported from Germany on March 29.

He told Turan's correspondent that he had been deported along with his family - his wife and two children.

Before his deportation, he was rudely detained and handcuffed by the police. Upon arrival in Baku, "prophylactic talks" were conducted with the deportees. An officer in plainclothes and others in uniform, who introduced themselves as employee of the State Migration Service, spoke to him.  However, the activist suspects that one of them could be a representative of  security agency.

"They asked me: 'Did you go to Germany for treatment?" I answered that no, I emigrated because of persecution and told everything as it was," Ashurov noted.

 On the eve of and after the Presidential election on April 11, 2018, he was arrested twice for active political activity, first for 30 days and then for 60 days.

He was hinted that if he did not stop his political activity, he could go to jail for a third time on criminal charges for a long time.

In September 2018, Ashurov emigrated to Germany, whose authorities refused to grant asylum.

Local human rights activists have previously criticized German authorities for deporting activists despite the risk of persecution in their home country.

According to "Defense Line," four of the activists deported from Germany were arrested for a third time, and he was hinted that if he did not stop his political activity, he could go to jail for a long time on criminal charges for the third time.

In September 2018, Ashurov emigrated to Germany, whose authorities refused to grant asylum.

Local human rights activists have previously criticized German authorities for deporting activists despite the risk of persecution in their home country.

According to "Defense Line," four of the activists deported from Germany have been arrested since last November on trumped-up charges of drug trafficking.

All of them had participated in political actions in Germany to protect human rights in Azerbaijan.

Deportation of Azerbaijani citizens is carried out in line with the readmission agreement between Azerbaijan and the EU.

In 2021, 420 Azerbaijani citizens were readmitted from Europe. A total of 2013 people have been deported since 2014, when the agreement with the EU was signed. -06В-