Azeri activist's custody extended for another two months

A Baku court has extended custody of an activist who was detained for alleged desecrating a monument to the late Azerbaijani president, Turan news agency said on 6 September.


On 6 September, the Xatai district court of Baku extended for another two months the detention of a member of the pro-opposition Nida Civil Movement, Bayram Mammadov, who is being accused of drug trafficking on a large scale, lawyer Elcin Sadiqov told Turan.


According the Nida movement, the activists - Bayram Mammadov and Qiyas Ibrahimov
were detained for inscriptions on the pedestal of the monument on 10 May.
However, they were accused of drug trafficking on a large scale and detained for four months. The activists rejected the accusation, saying they were arrested in connection with the graffiti.


Two photos featuring the monument with the inscription on its base in Azeri "Happy Slave's Festival" (Azeri: Qul Bayrami Mubarak) were posted on the Facebook page of Nida. The phrase is a wordplay which used a phonetic mix-up of Azeri words " gul" (flower) and " qul" (slave).


An annual flower festival is held in Baku every year to mark Heydar Aliyev's birthday on 10 May. Aliyev was the country's president from 1993 to 2003 and the father of the incumbent president.



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