Third Gubad Ibadoghlu associate convicted in less than a month

A third member of imprisoned Azerbaijani opposition figure Gubad Ibadoghlu’s Democracy and Prosperity party has reportedly been sentenced to 30 days administrative arrest, the third to be charged in less than a month.

Huseyn Malik was detained on Tuesday, according to the deputy chair of the party, Adalat Yusub. 

Yusub stated that Malik was detained for making statements critical of the government on social media.

He was sentenced to 30 days of administrative arrest on charges of petty hooliganism and disobeying police.

According to Yusub, Malik was ill and bedridden at the time of his arrest as he suffers from diabetes and was recovering from major heart surgery.

‘The man was taken from his sick bed and they say that he resisted the police on the street. They’re saying this about the man who has not been able to take a step outside his house for a week and is receiving treatment’, Yusub wrote on Facebook.

While the Interior Ministry usually confirms reports of administrative arrests and rulings against those detained, it has yet to comment on Malik’s arrest.

Malik would be the third member of the Democracy and Prosperity party to be detained this month: Vusal Zeynalov, a member of the party’s Gazakh office was detained on 30 September, while Allahverdi Babayev, the chair of the Khazar district’s office was detained on 18 September.

The party maintains that Babayev and Zeynalov were arrested for criticising the government.

The chair of the party, Gubad Ibadoghlu has been in detention since late July on charges of printing, acquiring, or selling counterfeit money as part of an organised group — charges he and local human rights defenders say are politically motivated.

[Learn more about Ibadoghlu’s arrest on the Caucasus Digest:  Podcast | The arrest of Gubad Ibadoghlu]

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