Azerbaijani activist arrested on charge of defamation

Lawyer Ilham Aslanoglu (Takhmazov) is arrested for five months on the charge of defamation. Activists believe that he is being persecuted for exposing crimes committed by militaries against colleagues within the “Terter case”.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that in the spring of 2017, a group of militaries and civilians was arrested in Baku on the charge of collaborating with the Armenian special services and plotting acts of sabotage. According to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), more than 200 soldiers fell victim to torture in the “Terter case”, and eleven of them died.

The human rights Union “For Freedom of Political Prisoners of Azerbaijan” recognized 25 persons convicted in the “Terter case” as victims of persecution for political reasons.

According to Arastun Orudjlu, the head of the East-West Research Centre, Ilham Aslanoglu made public the facts of torture against the militaries involved in the investigation of the “Terter case”.

“Instead of the arrests of the persons guilty of using torture, the one who exposed those crimes was thrown into prison,” Arastun Orudjlu said.

“Serious crimes were committed in the ‘Terter case’. To hide their mistakes, the military top-ranking officials tried to attribute them to the betrayal of the officers, who were severely tortured,” said Namizad Safarov, a coordinator of the Committee against Torture and Repressions.

He notes that this is the second arrest in Azerbaijan over the past two weeks on the charge of defamation. “First, Ali Aliev, the leader of the “Citizens and Development” Party, was arrested. Apparently, this is aimed at instilling fear so that people do not criticize the authorities,” Namizad Safarov believes.