Year Passes Since Strange Death of Blogger Mehman Galandarov

Baku / 28.04.18 / Turan: A year has passed since the death of the blogger and activist Mehman Galandarov under strange circumstances in Baku Pretrial Detention Center No 1. On the occasion of the anniversary of his death, civil society activists of Azerbaijan visited his grave and held a ceremony of remembrance of the deceased.

Galandarov was found hanged in the detention center's cell on April 28, 2017.

He was arrested on February 7, 2017 on charges of drug trafficking after he wrote: "Let's all be like Giyas. We will not be slaves!" on Facebook (Giyas Ibrahimov and Bayram Mammadov were arrested on May 10, 2016 after they wrote political slogans on the monument to Heydar Aliyev and were sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of illicit drug trafficking). In the previous months, Galandarov participated in protests in front of the Azerbaijani embassy in Georgia.

A criminal case upon Galandarov's death was initiated under Article 125 (bringing to suicide) of the Criminal Code. However, in the end, the case was closed on the grounds that Galandarov's suicide was not a crime. However, according to the human rights activist Ogtay Gulaliyev, the investigation did not give an objective legal assessment of the activist's death.

"There was no objective investigation or investigation to solve the crime. On the contrary, they did everything they could to conceal the crime," Gulaliyev said. He called on the authorities to ensure a new objective investigation and bring those responsible to justice. "The time will come, and the causes of Mehman Galandarov's death will become known to the public, and the guilty will be punished. He was a principled supporter of democracy in Azerbaijan," Gulaliyev said.

As the journalist Avaz Zeynally noted at the commemoration ceremony, the public should support those in need of protection. "When there is increased public attention, the authorities cannot fully launch an apparatus of evil and slander. Let's show that the society is still on its feet," Zeynally said. -03B06-