Prosecutors ignore Yagublu’s complaint about beating by law enforcers

Today, Azerbaijani oppositionist Tofig Yagublu has announced that the prosecutor’s office did not inform him within the time limit provided for by the law about the start of an investigation into his complaint about beating.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on December 1, 2021, the police disrupted a protest action in defence of Salekh Rustamov, an activist of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), who held a hunger strike in prison demanding his release. Among those detained at the protest action was Tofig Yagublu, a member of the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF) of Azerbaijan. The oppositionist claims that law enforcers severely beat him while he was kept in custody.

Tofig Yagublu has not yet received any response to his complaint. The “Caucasian Knot” correspondent has learned the above from the opposition politician himself today. “On December 3, I spent four and a half hours giving evidence in the Sabail District Prosecutor’s Office. In accordance with the law, the Prosecutor’s Office was to give me an answer at the latest a month later. They should have informed me whether a criminal case had been instituted or denied. However, the period provided for by the law has expired, and I got no answer,” Tofig Yagublu reported.

The politician does not believe that a criminal case will be opened on the fact of torture. “According to the information I have, the Prosecutor’s Office will refuse to institute a criminal case. I myself doubted that from the very beginning. As soon as I receive a formal letter with the refusal to open a criminal case, we will go to court. Then we will go through all the court instances in Azerbaijan and file a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR),” Tofig Yagublu stated.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 5, 2022 at 02:01 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.