Speaking of his 20-year-old son Elsevar Mursalli’s arrest, Nasreddin Mursalli said: “The police officer informed that he “made mistakes” on the Internet, therefore, officers from Baku came after him.” He was sentenced to five years in prison for selling heroin. However, the young man’s father claims his son has been arrested for Internet activities:
“On the way from work, two men in civilian clothes stopped the car. They asked me who was in the car. I said my family. Jafar Mammadov, Criminal Investigation Department staff member asked if they could look inside the car. I said yes. When my son left the car, they asked for his name. When he said Elsevar, he was immediately pushed into their car. They said there was a complaint about this young man. However, they didn’t mention what exactly.”
Mursalli was taken to the police station. When his parents followed him into the police office, they were told that 4.2 grams of heroin were found in their son’s jacket.
“I asked Jafar Mammadov the reason for my son’s arrest. He said that my son “made a mistake” on the internet, therefore, officers from Baku came after him. He would be released after the interrogation.”
However, Mursalli hasn’t been released. The young man was arrested on October 3, and was charged with the 234.4.3 article of the Criminal Code (possession, transfer and sale of large amounts of illegal drugs) on April 2.
Nasraddin Mursalli said that his son didn’t even smoke. He has never been involved with illegal drugs.
“My son told me that he was supporting Jamil Hasanli on Facebook, and joined his pre-elections campaign as well. A couple of days later he was arrested. He thinks he has been charged for his online activities. Investigation materials have no information on how my son was trading drugs,” said Mursalli.
Board member of NIDA Ulvi Hasanli said that about a week ago, organization’s arrested members met with Mursalli in the Baku Investigative Detention Center. They have sent a letter to the organization stating that Mursalli was arrested for his online activities. He also expressed his willingness to join NIDA organization.
“The government doesn’t have enough courage to apply restrictive regulations implied on the internet usage, instead keeps arresting young people with fabricated charges. Court cases of those arrested with hooliganism, or illegal drugs charges show that they can not even carry out proper investigations,” said Ulvi Hasanli.
MP Fazil Mustafa in his interview to Meydan TV told that he supports release of prisoners detained for freedom of expression. He thinks this issue will be solved by June, until Azerbaijan is the Head of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Council of Europe. “There is a need for International organizations’ persistent work towards releasing people arrested in the current situation. We also believe that arrest of journalists for what they have expressed is totally unacceptable. Obviously, there are different motives for their arrests. However, in any case, if the government cares for its authority, they shouldn’t keep so many people arrested.”
Nasreddin Mursalli says his son suffers from pneumonia. He is worried about his son’s health. The parent appealed for re-investigation.
