The Union �For the Freedom of Political Prisoners of Azerbaijan� (UFPP) condemned the pressure on the lawyer

Baku/03.06.19/Turan: The Union "For the Freedom of Political Prisoners of Azerbaijan" (UFPP) strongly condemned the violence against lawyer Orhan Kengerli in the fifth branch of the Binagadi District Police Department Baku.

Kangarli came to the police station to meet with his client. Despite the fact that the lawyer fulfilled his professional duty, presented the necessary documents, the police officers beat him and put him in a cell to his client.

"Violation of the rights of citizens in police establishments, torture, and arbitrariness of responsible persons have occurred before. Unfortunately, no one was punished for this, and this impunity encouraged new crimes," said the UFPP coordinator Elshan Hasanov.

The UFPPA expressed its strong protest against the arbitrariness and dictatorship of the police, the statement said.

"We demand the investigation of this crime and the punishment of those responsible to the fullest extent of the law," the document says.

According to Hasanov, pressure on lawyers in Azerbaijan has already become the focus of international attention.

"On May 29 at 19.00 a special program was broadcast on the central radio of the Netherlands about the pressure on the lawyers of Azerbaijan. The author of the program, journalist Ad Nuis, spoke about the sharp reduction in the country of lawyers defending the rights of political prisoners. The author interviewed Alaif Hasanov and Yalchin Imanov, who told how and why they were expelled from the Bar Association, "Hasanov said.

It should be noted that the leadership of the Bar Association stated that in connection with the beating of a lawyer, they would seek investigation and punishment of the perpetrators. The Ministry of Internal Affairs, however, denies the fact of pressure on the lawyer and accuses him of disturbing public order and trying to hinder the work of the police, about which a protocol was drawn up.

* The UFPP was established in November 2018 by human rights activists Leyla Yunus, Elshan Hasanov, Hilal Mamedov, and also the head of the Union of Intellectuals of Azerbaijan Eldaniz Guliyev. -06D-