Today another protest rally took place in Baku’s Fountains Square, with demand to freedom for Saleh Rustamov, the opposition Popular Front Party supporter in prison and who has been on hunger strike for 40 days now.
This was the second rally in Rustamov’s defense this month, after the first one on December 1 was quickly dispersed by police and associated with major police violence, including brutal beating of longtime oppositionist Tofig Yagublu.
The organizer of today’s rally was Ganimat Zahid, who lives in France in exile and is a loud critic of the Azerbaijani government. As soon as the rally was announced, the Ministry of Interior Affairs released a statement declaring that this rally will be dispersed too.
At least 30 protesters were detained during the rally. Among them were Tofig Yagublu, his daughter Nigar Hazi, several Popular Front members and family members of Saleh Rustamov. Nigar Hazi told journalists that in one police station 15 women detainees were being kept, and 14 were released shortly after. Yagublu and two other detainees were released but each fined 400 manats for violating quarantine regulations.
