Amnesty InternationalYouth activists Bayram Mammadov and Giyas Ibrahimov were arrested on 10 May in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, for alleged drug possession after they painted political graffiti on the former President’s statue. According to their lawyer, they have been beaten and otherwise ill-treated in detention.
Youth activists Bayram Mammadov and Giyas Ibrahimov
were detained by police in Baku on 10 May on drug-related charges.
Bayram Mammadov is a member of the pro-democracy youth movement NIDA.
Both activists are 22 years old. Giyas Ibrahimov and Bayram Mammadov
told their lawyer that the drugs had been planted on them by police, and
then “discovered” in the presence of “witnesses” who work for the
police. On 12 May, the judge at Khatai District Court in Baku approved
their pre-trial detention for four months. They are held at the Baku
Detention Facility at the Kurdakhany Settlement. If convicted, the
activists could face up to 12 years in prison.
The
arrest happened a day after Bayram Mammadov posted a photo of the
graffiti which Giyas Ibrahimov and he had painted on 9 May over the
statue of Heydar Aliyev. Heydar Aliyev is Azerbaijan’s late former
president and the father of the current president, Ilham Aliyev. The
activists used obscene language in the graffiti as a message of
political protest.
