Murad Sultanli, chair of the Control and Inspection Commission of the Azerbaijani opposition Popular Front Party (PFP), was reportedly arrested and sentenced to 30 days of administrative arrest on Thursday.
The party’s deputy chair, Seymur Hazi, told OC Media that Sultanli left his home on Tuesday and was unreachable during that time.
‘Only on Thursday it was announced that he is being held in the Binagadi Pre-trial Detention Centre. The reason for his 30-day administrative detention has not been disclosed. Now we are searching for a lawyer to defend his rights’, Hazi said.
The party views his arrest as ‘an episode in the repressive policy’ against them.
On 12 December, Vugar Gadirli, another PFP member, was detained and his house raided by the police.
Hazi stated that Gadirli was accused of the illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, storage, transport or carrying of firearms, their components, ammunition, explosives, and devices, and was remanded into three months of pre-trial detention.
Hazi believes that the police planted firearms in Gadirli’s house.
The arrests of Sultanli and Gadirli are the latest episodes in an apparent crackdown against the PFP which started in late November, when party chair Ali Karimli and member Mammad Ibrahim were detained and accused of committing actions aimed at the violent seizure of power and the violent change of the constitutional order of the state.
The two have been handed two months and 15 days of pre-trial detention.
According to independent media outlet Meydan TV, more than 20 members of the party are currently in police custody.
Yousef Bardouka
