Local Azerbaijani opposition leader believed to be arrested after ‘disappearance’
A local leader from the opposition Azerbaijani Popular Front Party (PFP), Faig Nagiyev, has not been heard from since Wednesday, with other party members suggesting that he has been arrested. At least 10 members of the PFP party have been detained since March, party chair Ali Karimli has said.
Karimli announced Nagiyev’s disappearance on Wednesday on Facebook. Nagiyev served as the local head of the party’s Khatai district branch.
Nagiyev was supposed to drive to a party meeting by car, Karimli wrote, but did not show up. His friends noted that it had been ‘impossible to contact him for several hours’.
‘Taking into account previous experiences, we think that Faig Bey was detained by the police’, Karimli wrote.
RFE/RL later cited the PFP as saying that Nagiyev had been detained for 30 days on unspecified charges, describing his arrest as a ‘gift to the PFP on Constitution Day’, which Azerbaijan commemorated on the same day.
The authorities have yet to confirm whether Nagiyev was placed under detention.
In his post announcing Nagiyev’s disappearance, Karimli noted that several members of his party, including those who were supposed to drive to ‘various events in their cars’ or to accompany him, had been administratively detained for 30 days.
‘The government, which deprived me of my office, passport, and internet access, and refused to recognise me as the chair of the PFP, now wants to completely put me under house arrest with these arrests and completely restrict my activities’, Karimli continued.
Days before Nagiyev’s disappearance, two other PFP members were administratively detained for 30 days on undisclosed charges. Karimli believes these arrests are due to the individuals’ connections to him.
Aytan Farhadova
