Jailed Azeri youth activist “repents”, asking Aliyev for pardon

Shahin Novruzlu, a member of the opposition youth group NIDA who was imprisoned last year along with six other members of the group, has asked Pesident Ilham Aliyev for pardon.

Novruzlu, the youngest of the imprisoned NIDA activists who was 17 when he was arrested in March 2012, said he “repented”, pro-government APA news agency said.

The NIDA members and Ilkin Rustamzada, head of the pro-opposition Free Youth group, were found guilty of illegal drug and weapons possession – charges the activists and international rights groups rejected as bogus and political.

They were arrested following demonstrations in the capital in protest against non-combat deaths in the army.

Novruzlu was the third imprisoned NIDA activist to ask Aliyev for mercy. Group members Baxtiyar Quliyev and Elsevar Mursaliyev had earlier appealed to the president, also “repenting”.

Bakudaily.az