Young Activists Tell Lawyer about Torture in Police

The youth activists Bayram Mammadov and Giyas Ibrahimov arrested after painting a monument to Heydar Aliyev gave an affidavit to the lawyer Elchin Sadigov in jail, and told of torture while in police custody.

Sadigov told Turan, May 16, he visited his clients in Kurdakhani. They told of beatings and abuse, the lawyer said. Sadigov took their written testimony for transmission to the prosecutor's office to investigate the cases of torture.

"The bodies of the young people, especially Mammadova, have traces of violence. They are on the head, legs and wrists. They have pains in the head, arms, legs and back," said Sadigov.

In his testimony Mammadov wrote: "On May 10 around 14.00-15.00 three men in civilian clothes forcibly sat me in a white jeep and took me to the 12^th police station. I was taken to the chief's office. There were another 7-8 men in civilian clothes, who began to beat me with their hands and feet. I was asked why I painted the monument and with whom I am connected. From the beatings I lost consciousness and cannot remember how I was brought to the Central Police Department of the Baku city. They started to beat me again, demanding to confess to possession of drugs."

According to the lawyer, under the threat of more sophisticated torture and rape in particular, the young man signed a confession.

Then he was asked to lay flowers at the monument to apologize in front of the cameras of state television, promising that after that he would be released. But after the failure, they started beating him again, continued the lawyer.

Similar actions were applied in respect of Ibrahimov. Sadigov noted that in the Narimanov Police Department the young people were forced to clean the toilet and to sweep the yard. At the slightest objection they beat them again.

On May 12, after returning from court, Mammadov was tortured again, demanding to testify against certain people allegedly involved in the graffiti on the monument to Aliyev.

After refusing, he was taken to the basement. "I was handcuffed and beaten with a baton, hands and feet. I was even chained up. When I started to cry, they taped my mouth shut. After I had bruises from the handcuffs on my hands and feet, they taped my hands and feet behind. They put me face down, and one of the policemen sat on my back and held my feet, and the other beat me on the soles. Then they lifted me up and threw on the floor 4-5 times. After the adhesive tape broke, they began to trample on my hands. Another again began to beat me on the soles, chest and knees," wrote Mammadov.

On the question whether the lawyer will go to court or the prosecutor's office in connection with the torture, Sadigov said this: "The young people reported on torture in the Khatai District Court on May 12, during the selection of a preventive measure. The judge, arresting them, decided to investigate the complaints of torture. "By law, the investigation has to be conducted by prosecutors. The defense has appealed against the arrest of Mammadov and Ibrahimov. On Tuesday or Wednesday the complaints will be considered.   -16D-