Azerbaijan PFPA activist arrested for 15 days

Djeikhun Rzaev, a member of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan, was arrested after holding a solo protest action with the demand to release a journalist and a blogger in Mingachevir.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on March 2, a court sentenced journalist Elchin Gasanzade, a member of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), and blogger Ibragim Tyurksoi to eight months of imprisonment on the charge of defamation and insult. Human rights defenders consider the sentence too harsh and claim that the journalist and the blogger are being prosecuted for criticizing the authorities.

The lawsuit was filed by the chief of the housing and maintenance department of Mingachevir, who considered the critical posts about himself on social media as defamation and insult.

According to PFPA deputy chair Seimur Khazi, Djeikhun Rzaev put photos of Elchin Gasanzade and Ibragim Tyurksoi on the windshield of the car belonging to the chief of the city executive authority, since the activist believed the official had ordered the arrests of the journalist and the blogger. Djeikhun Rzaev was immediately detained by the police. Seimur Khazi called the court’s decision too harsh.

Seimur Khazi recalled that a year ago, Djeikhun Rzaev was also arrested after a solo action, when he glued a portrait of Mamed Emin Rasulzade, a founder of the People’s Republic of Azerbaijan, to the sculpture of the symbols of the Azerbaijani flag in Mingachevir.

The press service for the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Azerbaijan reported that Djeikhun Rzaev “violated public order.”