Tag: pressure

blogger facing pressure over a video shared on Facebook

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Azerbaijani blogger Elmar Aziz was called into questioning on December 1 over what the blogger said was a video he shared about the traffic police. According to Turan News Agency, in the video shared by Aziz, traffic police are seen taking bribes from drivers. Aziz shared the video on Facebook.

In an interview with Meydan TV, Aziz said he posted the video of traffic police bribing drivers on Facebook and tagged the head Elshad Hadjiyev – the head of press relations at the Ministry of the Interior. 

The blogger was forced to remove the video after the questioning at the police station. Aziz told Meydan TV that police threatened to keep him less he removed the video. 

After Aziz told the local media about the pressure from the police, the blogger was called back into the questioning together with his parents. 

Speaking to Turan News Agency, the head of press relations at the Ministry of the Interior, Elshad Hadjiyev refuted the blogger’s claim that he was questioned together with his parents by the local police after informing the media that he was forced to remove the video from Facebook. 

political activist says he faced pressure by local police after refusing to share his phone password

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A member of D18 political movement, Afiaddin Mammadov, who was arrested on November 11 and sentenced to 30 days in administrative detention said during his appeal court that all the claims about him allegedly breaking a windshield and resisting police were untrue. Instead, he was taken against his will on November 11 by six plain-clothed men and brought to the Main Police Station according to Meydan TV reporting. 

Mammadov also said that police demanded he shared the password for his mobile device and when he refused he was tortured. He was then sentenced to 30 days in administrative detention without any further investigation into the alleged crime he committed. The activist said he was also refused a lawyer.  

According to Meydan TV reporting, Mammadov said in court, that shortly before his detention, he was interviewed by an online news platform Toplum.TV. In the interview, he said he will stage a demonstration less police provided information on the whereabouts of another D18 member, Orkhan Zeynalli. Zeynalli was detained by the local police on November 11 and was sentenced to 30 days in administrative detention on November 12, according to reporting by Turan News Agency. 

During Mammadov’s court hearing despite lawyer Zibeyde Sadighova’s attempts to get the judge to overrule the decision and release the activist as well as provide traffic camera footage to confirm alleged crimes committed by Mammadov and investigate the torture Mammadov faced during detention, none were met. 

resident of Mingachevir city beaten by the police over social media posts

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January 29, 2021 – Resident of Mingachevir city, Sardar Asgarov was taken to local police, beaten, and forced to apologize over his criticism of the local government officials on social media. 

In an interview with Meydan TV, a Berlin-based online news platform, covering Azerbaijan, Asgarov said, a man showed up at his door on January 26 in the morning telling him, he was coming from the Mingachevir Employment Center. Once Sadigov stepped outside of his door, three other men showed up and attacked Sadigov. 

According to Sadigov he was then taken to the local police where the city’s deputy chief, Javid Talibov slapped him, used derogatory language and told him who was he to criticize local administration, and the head of the police on social media. “He then forced me to kneel, and to apologize while Talibov was filming me with his phone,” Sadigov told Meydan TV. 

The same day, Sadigov was fined and let go. 

Sadigov said both his mobile phones that were taken by the police were formated and his accounts on social media platforms were deleted. “The deputy chief told me if I criticize local authorities again, he will find a way to arrest me.”

In the meantime, Mingachevir City Police told Meydan TV, Sadigov was detained for hooliganism and fined for 50AZN and that Sadigov’s claims about violence and threats he was subject to at the police are not true. Similarly, the city administrative office refuted Sadigov’s claims that he was detained on the orders of the office. The office also said they consider Sadigov’s comments on social media as slander. 

Sadigov’s posts on social media criticized one of the city government departments for withholding salaries of women employees, and not helping them during the pandemic. Sadigov also criticized the city police for preventing these women from protesting.  

forced posts removal from Facebook continue in Azerbaijan

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On January 13, Elmir Abbasov, a member of NIDA movement, was taken against his will to local police station in the city of Sumgayit where he was questioned over his Facebook post about president Ilham Aliyev.

In his interview with Azadliq Radio, Abbasov said, he was on his way to a shop when a man told Abbasov to get into the car for a chat at the police station. Abbasov, who said without a warrant he won’t be going anywhere, was then shuved into the car and taken to the station by force.

Abbasow spent the next two hours at the police station, where he was informed that the reason for his interrogation was a Facebook post, he wrote about the President. He was told to immediately delete the post. 

AIW spoke with Abbasov about the content of the post which is no longer available on the social media platform.

Under normal circumstances this post would not be considered critical but in Azerbaijan, the sensitivity around certain personalities as in the case of the president are common and not tolerated. 

In the case of Abbasov’s post, it was a comment about an economic system heavily reliant on hydrocarbons. This has been voiced by international financial institutions, experts and pundits alike for a long time.

Similarly, Abbasov’s post stressed the country’s economy, over reliance to fluctuating oil price as a result of its dependence and recommended that the president takes recommendations by independent economists seriously rather than dismiss them. 

Three days before Abbasov was taken to the police and ordered to delete his post from Facebok, one freelance journalist [name omitted due to safety concerns] was told to delete a Facebook post, that was critical of the local law enforcement. Namely, the journalist desrcibed seeing one officer, take a bribe from a man stopped on the street as part of the COVID measures in place. The source told AIW, the measure was taken in an attempt to keep the reputation of the local agency clean.