Public activist Zeka Miragaev has been arrested

Baku/23.10.23/Turan: Public activist Zeka Miragayev has been arrested.  

He was detained on October 11, lawyer Elchin Sadigov told Turan.

The activist was charged under Article 234.4.3 (large-scale drug trafficking) of the Criminal Code. By the decision of the Sabail district Court, a preventive measure in the form of arrest was chosen against him. 

"Miragaev pleads not guilty. In court, he said that he was taken away from home and drugs were put in his pocket by police officers," the lawyer said. 

The decision to arrest was appealed. However, the Baku Court of Appeal upheld it. The defense intends to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

Miragayev's relatives associate the activist's arrest with his open letter in which he criticized the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. "The day after the publication of the letter, he was taken away from home," said one of his relatives. In the regional group, the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs called the allegations "unfounded and personal judgments."

Just before his arrest, Miragaev turned to human rights activist Rufat Safarov and said that he had decided to sharply criticize the government, the police, and the Interior Ministry.

"He wrote that he knew that after criticism he would be arrested on slanderous charges. He asked that if arrested, then not to leave him without protection. After Miragaev wrote criticism about the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he was arrested," Safarov wrote on Facebook.

According to Miragayev's relatives, his critical post about the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was removed from his Facebook page. --03b06--