There are legal possibilities for the release of Saleh Rustamov

Baku/06.12.21/Turan: Former head of the Executive Power of the Gadabay region Saleh Rustamov, who is under arrest, has been on a hunger strike for 31 days. Today, on December 6, lawyer Bahruz Bayramov appealed to the Nizami District Court with an application for the release of S. Rustamov.

"He has serious illnesses; he also suffers from kidney failure. There are no obstacles for the court to release him from the unserved punishment ...", said  the lawyer Agil Laidj.

On December 1, a number of political activists and oppositionists held a rally in the center of the capital demanding the release of S. Rustamov. During the action, about 40 people were detained, six of them were administratively arrested on charges of violating the quarantine rules in force in connection with the coronavirus. A statement from among the detained member of the National Council and Musavat Party Tofig Yagublu about the beating intensified public protests. But the Interior Ministry denied the claim that Yagublu was at the police station.

Representative of the "Defense Line" organization Rufat Safarov said that freedom of assembly is prohibited in Azerbaijan. He added that although Article 49 of the Constitution and Article 28 of the European Convention enshrine freedom of assembly, the authorities do not take them into account: “This time the police seemed to demonstrate torture and ill-treatment. Tofig Yagublu can be cited as an example. when there was such torture, the victims were arrested and isolated from society. Then they waited for the traces of the injuries to disappear."

He stressed that, despite the refutation, the fact of beating Yagublu is obvious: "We, as an organization, turned to the Prosecutor General Kamran Aliyev to resolve the issue of legal responsibility in relation to policemen." So far, it has not been possible to get a reaction from the Prosecutor General's Office to this issue.

MP Elman Nasirov told Turan that an attempt to hold a rally on December 1 is illegal. In his opinion, holding such an action in the city center creates problems for the safety of people and their leisure. He added that the action was not coordinated with the executive power of the city of Baku. The MP believes that the organizers wanted to create riots in the city center: "In addition, on that day, our people held a farewell ceremony with 14 of our martyrs. In such a situation, when people are in mourning, illegal steps are being taken."

Alimammad Nuriyev, member of the Commission on Pardons under the President of Azerbaijan, recalled the appeal of the Public Council under the Ministry of Internal Affairs on this issue: “We demanded that those who committed these actions against Tofig Yagublu be identified and punished. and Tofig Yagublu was interrogated for four hours. I hope the issue will be fully investigated."

As for the arrest of S. Rustamov, according to Rufat Safarov, local and international organizations recognize him as a political prisoner. He recalled the appeal of lawyers to the court: “If there was political will, the release of Saleh Rustamov would be possible. The fact is that for the release of Saleh Rustamov, only appeals from the internal audience are not enough, the US State Department, the Council of Europe and the European Union must take persistent practical steps."

Deputy E. Nasirov said that "the opposition political circles of Azerbaijan want to see every detainee as a political prisoner. However, there are no political prisoners in Azerbaijan, because Azerbaijan is a state that has chosen a democratic path of development. You need to know that democracy is a process that has no end. No state can claim that it is at the peak of democracy. Therefore, allegations that a hunger striker is a political prisoner have no basis. He was detained for the presence of corpus delicti in his actions. And by a court decision, the fate of each person is considered in the legal plane."

A. Nuriyev, a member of the pardon commission, stressing about the meeting with Rustamov last week, added that there were detailed discussions and the issue was raised before the relevant structures: “of course, there are legal opportunities for Saleh Rustamov to be released. The plenum of the Supreme Court may consider the case and make an appropriate decision. The second is forgiveness. In the current conditions, there are only these legal possibilities."

S. Rustamov was arrested on May 8, 2018 on charges of drug possession. Two days later, his nephew Vidadi Rustamli was detained on the same charge. Then, on May 25, three functionaries of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (PFPA) (Agil Maharramov, Babek Hasanov and Ruslan Nasirov) were detained. After that, it became clear that the charges had changed. According to the official statement about their detention, the functionaries of the Popular Front Party and S. Rustamov were accused of money laundering. The PFPA considers the accusation to be false.

By the verdict of the Baku Serious Crimes Court S. Rustamov was sentenced to 7 years 3 months in prison, A. Maharramov to 4 years, B. Hasanov to 3 years in prison. V. Rustamli and R. Nasirov were sentenced to suspended sentences. Not all of them accepted the charges in court. B. Hasanov was released on March 18 this year under an amnesty. –0—