APFP party member jailed in Mingachevir after photo campaign

Jeyhun Rzayev was sentenced to 15 days of administrative detention.

Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) Member Jeyhun Rzayev was sentenced to 15 days of administrative detention after participating in a photo campaign protesting the detentions and alleged torture of other party members Zamin Salayev and Niyamaddin Ahmadov.

According to the party, Zamin Salayev and Niyamaddin Ahmadov are on a hunger strike to protest their torture and illegal detention. Salayev and Ahmadov have been in prison since April 2020. Ahmadov was previously the party chief's bodyguard, and was charged with terrorism-related offenses, which he disputes. Salayev, on the other hand, was jailed after an argument with a police officer, who then pressed charges against him.

Zamin Salayev himself testified in court that he went on a hunger strike to protest his alleged torture and repeated beatings by the head of the penitentiary. He says his confession was given under torture.

The PFPA had previously stated that their members in the regions of Azerbaijan were under pressure and that Rzayev had been detained by police. Rzayev was later found guilty of petty hooliganism and disobedience to a lawful request of the police.

For several days, members of the Popular Front Party have been taking photos of themselves holding pictures of arrested party activists Zamin Salayev and Niyamaddin Ahmadov and spreading them on social networks.

Jeyhun Rzayev's arrest in Mingachevir seems to be connected to this photo campaign. According to the claim, he pasted a picture of both frontiersmen on the Mingachevir chief executive's car.

Another PFPA activist, Bakhtiyar Yusubov, a member of the party's Ganja city branch, was allegedly summoned to the State Security's local office. According to the frontline activist, a few days ago he took a photo of Niyamaddin Ahmadov in front of the Ganja City Department of the State Security Committee.

Bakhtiyar Yusubov says that he was openly told that he was summoned to the office for this reason.

"I took similar photos not only there, but also in front of the executive power, in Khan Bagi and other places. I told the person who called me on the phone, but he still insisted that I come to the office", Bakhtiyar Yusubov said.

The Public Relations Department of the Penitentiary Service denied the allegations of the hunger strike, saying that no one was on hunger strike in the prison. Niyamaddin Ahmadov's lawyer, Zibeyda Sadigov, had gone to the Medical Institution No. 3 to meet with her client, but she was not allowed to see him or assess his condition.

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Bakhtiyar Yusubov and Jeyhun Rzayev’s photos as part of the campaign.
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