On March 9, well-known Azerbaijani activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev was detained by the police for 6 hours, only to appear in the end with signs of torture on his body.
Hajiyev was arrested by several police officers in the afternoon after he stopped his car in front of the Ministry of Interior Affairs with papers, reading “Vilayat Eyvazov [minister], don’t sponsor the criminals”, put on his car’s windows. The officers broke his car’s back window, opened its door from inside, and arrested Hajiyev, while he live-streamed it all on his Facebook.
Since then there had been no news of his detainment, until he was freed six hours later. Spokesperson of the ministry told media that Hajiyev threatened the officers with burning his car, to which they reacted.
After his release, Hajiyev told Mikroskop that he was beaten while in police custody, showing traces of torture on the back of his ear and his neck.
“I told them that my wrists were hurting [because of handcuffs], and they lifted my arms even higher so that my wrists would be broken. I heard their chief tell them on radio that they better beat me up and record. They kept beating me while video recording so they would report it to their chief.”
Hajiyev has long been criticizing the minister Eyvazov and other law enforcement authorities for their inaction against threats to him, which he says are because of his political activism. He says that earlier the authorities told him that they won’t investigate the threats as those who target him are “sponsored and protected by the state”.
On March 10, Hajiyev wrote on Facebook that he was invited to Baku City Chief Police Department today, but he declined to go.
