Popular Front Party activist Tezekhan Miralamli has been detained in Azerbaijan.
State Security Service officers detained Azerbaijan Popular Front Party activist Tezekhan Miralamli. His rented apartment was searched, and electronic media and documents were seized.
As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," on November 29, following searches, State Security Service officers detained Ali Kerimli, the leader of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (APFP), his advisor and APFP presidium member Mammad Ibrahim, and several other activists. The party called the detentions politically motivated, assessing them as an attempt by the authorities to "destroy the last independent political force in Azerbaijan." On December 1, a court sentenced both to two and a half months in pretrial detention. On December 5, the Baku Court of Appeal rejected the appeal against Karimli's arrest, and at least eight of his supporters were detained near the courthouse.
Tezekhan Miralamli, chairman of the Control and Auditing Commission of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan and a spokesperson for the party and the Azadliq newspaper, was detained on the afternoon of December 5, party press secretary Natig Adilov told a Caucasian Knot correspondent.
According to him, Miralamli left his home to go to the Baku Court of Appeal, where a trial was being held regarding the arrest of PFPA leader Ali Karimli. After that, he went silent. It was later revealed that Miralamli had been detained and taken to his rented apartment, where a search was conducted. Security forces seized Miralamli's computer, mobile phone, and documents, and he was taken to the State Security Service (SSS) of Azerbaijan, Adilov noted.
He believes Miralamli's detention is related to the Karimli case. Adilov also reported that all 20 Karimli supporters detained on December 5 near the Baku Court of Appeals were released by the evening.
A Caucasian Knot correspondent was unable to obtain comment from the SSS of Azerbaijan regarding the detention of Tezekhan Miralamli.
Miralamli has previously been persecuted: for example, in March 2020, a criminal case was opened against him for hooliganism. The opposition leader stated that the case was initiated based on a complaint from Ata Abdullayev, who identifies himself as a video blogger. On June 19, 2020, the court sentenced the journalist to one year of restricted freedom.
Information about the persecution of activists in the Caucasus regions is published by the "Caucasian Knot" on the thematic page "Persecution of Activists." The "Caucasian Knot" also prepared a report "Persecution of Human Rights Defenders and Civil Activists in Azerbaijan."
Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/417834