Human Rights Activists Declared July 10 Day of Fight against Torture

Baku / 07/10/19 / Turan: The Committee against Repression and Torture today held an event at the headquarters of the Musavat Party, dedicated to the anniversary of the Ganja events of 2018.

At the beginning of the meeting it became known that one of the accused Aydin Gurbanov died in a prison hospital. The participants honored his memory with a minute of silence.

The report entitled "The Ganja Events of 2018: terror, provocation, or public protests. Realities and fictions" was presented by human rights activist Oktay Gyulalyev.

He noted that the monitoring of trials, information from family members of the accused and lawyers shows that those arrested in the Ganja events are being persecuted without evidence.

"Yunis Safarov, who shot the head of Ganja, was tortured by the police. His photos with traces of violence hit the social networks. Those who distributed these photos, and calls for unrest have not yet been established and not found.

On the other hand, there are a lot of questions: how could Rashad Beyukkishiyev calmly swing a dagger and kill two police officers in the center of the city, and then escape? The police officers themselves in court stated that on the day of the protest the weapons were taken from them," said Gyulalyev.

He noted that about 1,000 people had been detained. Although most were released a few days later, about 80 people were arrested. Most of them have been brutally tortured. Some could not stand, attempting suicide. Among those who used torture were not only police officers, but also prosecutors.

The report's authors noted the need to bring to justice the perpetrators of torture, to investigate the actions of the former head of Ganja Elmar Veliyev, whose actions led to the unrest, to stop the prosecution and to acquit those arrested and convicted.

In conclusion, the meeting participants declared July 10 the Day of Fight against Torture.

* On July 3, 2018, in Ganja, an attempt was made on the then head of the city, Elmar Veliyev. A native of Ganja, Younis Safarov wounded him and his bodyguard.

After that, in social networks, a protest action against Veliyev was scheduled for July 10 in front of the Ganja administration building.

On July 10, the MIA reported on the unrest in Ganja, during which two police officers were killed. Following this, mass arrests among believers began. About 80 people were brought to criminal responsibility. Another 6 people were killed while providing armed resistance.

In early March, two groups of the accused (a total of 14 people) were sentenced to various terms ranging from 5 to 8 years in prison on charges of participating in mass riots and violence against police officers. -21C--