Over 200 people arrested in Baku, according to unofficial data

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijan’s Public Chamber Committee, which organized a rally in Baku on Saturday, April 2, said that as many as 150 people were arrested as they attempted to demonstrate. According to official data, there are 68 detained, however, informal sources bring the number to 200.

Police blocked off all streets leading to the designated rally point in Fountain Square, using shields and truncheons to disperse those arriving for protest, human rights activists present at the rally told Amnesty International.

Vugar Hasanli, Teymur Abbasli, Ibrahim Ahmadzade and Tahir Abdullayev were arrested by police late on 1 April. They were picked up by officers from their homes in and around Baku. Youth activists Kamal and Orkhan Huseynov were also abducted from their home in Baku by several men in plainclothes who did not identify themselves as police or give their names. Vugar Hasanli has already been sentenced to 10 days administrative detention, while Ibrahim Ahmadzade was sentenced to 7 days administrative detention.

At least seven individuals have now been sentenced to administrative detention, most under Article 310.1 of Azerbaijan's Administrative Code which bans "willful disobedience of a police official."

The majority of these trials took place behind closed doors, without the defendants having access to legal representation.