A group of women – members of families of political prisoners and opposition activists held a protest today in front of the US Embassy in Baku. They demanded that the Azerbaijani authorities release all political prisoners and tried to draw the attention of Western diplomats to this problem.
The action was attended, in particular, by family members convicted in the Tartar and Ganja cases, as well as the spouses of the founders of the sites xeberman.com Polad Aslanov and Azel.TV Afgan Sadigov.
Participants of the action raised posters with slogans calling for the release of political prisoners, as well as their portraits. They demanded pardon of political prisoners for the spring holiday of Novruz Bayrami and their subsequent rehabilitation.
10 minutes after the start of the action, the arrived police squads stopped the action, detaining Sevinj Sadigova and an activist of the Popular Front Party Matanat Makhmyrzayeva.
At the same time, the police used force against the journalists covering the action. In particular, some police officers tried to take away the reporters’ cameras, demanded not to take them off, removed the masks from their faces and took pictures of the journalists themselves and their IDs. At the same time, the police reported on their actions to their superiors, receiving instructions from them.
Turan
