Activist beaten, Facebook posts removed

Political activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev was unlawfully detained yet again according to reports by Azerbaijani media. During the interrogation, which lasted six hours, Hajiyev’s Facebook posts in which he criticized the Ministry of the Internal Affairs were removed. 

In his own statement, Hajiyev said, he was threatened that less he removed the posts, and stops writing about the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he will face further measures. But activists said, his recent posts specifically targeted the ministry for not letting Hajiyev visit Shusha – a city in Karabakh that was captured following the 44-day war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. 

Hajiyev said he had no intentions to complain given there is nowhere to complain and that instead, he has submitted an official request to give up his Azerbaijani citizenship. “I am concerned about my life and no longer want to be a citizen of Azerbaijan. Let the head of state decide, whether the law enforcement can treat people this way,” the political activist told Turan News Agency in an interview.

The unlawful detention and interrogation are the latest, in attacks against the political activist. In April of this year, Hajiyev was kidnapped, taken to an undisclosed location, and was forced to remove several Facebook posts under duress that criticized the Ministry of the Interior, including the minister himself, for failing to investigate his case and being the perpetrators of threats and attacks against him.