Azerbaijani opposition claims political nature of Ruslan Gara's arrest

The court's decision to arrest Ruslan Gara (Garaev), an activist of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), is unreasonable and politically motivated, and therefore it will be challenged. This was reported by the activist's advocate.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 11, Ruslan Gara, an activist from the PFPA's unit in Sumgait, was subjected to a twenty-day administrative arrest.

On August 14, advocate Asabali Mustafaev, met Ruslan Gara, kept at the SIZO (pre-trial prison) of the Sumgait City Police Department.

"Ruslan Gara said that he was arrested on libel accusation. According to the activist, he was kidnapped by people in civilian clothes when he left home. In a protocol on administrative violation they wrote that "after leaving the house, Ruslan Gara allegedly started to use foul language loudly in the street."

"These are typical accusations that are used to arrest oppositionists. And by the way, Ruslan Gara himself was also arrested in the same way one year ago for 20 days on the same charges," the advocate continued.

Jamil Gasanli, the chairman for the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCFC), believes that Ruslan Gara is being prosecuted for political reasons.

"The government persecutes young people in opposition, especially activists from the PFPA, which is on the front lines of the struggle for democratic changes. Ruslan Gara became the 41^st activist of the Party subjected to an administrative arrest for the period after the 2016 September rallies," Jamil Gasanli told the "Caucasian Knot".

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.