We aren’t Drug Addicts: Protest in Front of Azerbaijani Embassy in Berlin

• 05.20.2016, 19:27
•  Region,  World

artsakhpress.am

During the special session, the Azerbaijani parliament adopted a bill on amnesty on the occasion of the Republic Day on May 28. The bill was submitted by the First Lady of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva. It is reported that as a result of the amnesty 3,500 prisoners will be released. But it is already clear that this pleasant surprise will not apply to political prisoners. The amnesty will apply to only those, who weren’t sentenced for crimes of social danger and as we know, the political prisoners in Azerbaijan are imprisoned on very serious charges:  illegal circulation of drugs, treason or tax evasion. For this reason in front of Azerbaijani Embassy in Berlin Azeri youth hold protest action. The protesters demanded the release of the young activists of Azerbaijani opposition movement NIDA Bayram Mammadov and Giyas Ibrahimov. They were arrested on false charges of drug trafficking. 

In reality these two activists of  NIDAwere were detained in connection with the scandalous inscriptions on the pedestal of the monument to Heydar Aliyev. They had written with white paint in Azerbaijani and English: Qul Bayramınız Mübarək! (Happy Flower Days!) On the front side of the pedestal was written - Fuck the system! (Down with the system!), contact.az reported.

This arrest  has not had a great response in Azeri society, because of the treatment of any form of dissent in this country. Such a policy of Baku formed a new culture of protest against the Government: there is no protests within the country, instead the Azerbaijani diaspora is politically more active.The Azerbaijani dissidents plan to hold similar actions in front of the country's embassies in other European countries, contact.az reports.

At the entrance of the Azerbaijani embassies in Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Turkey banners were posted, which read as follows: "We are neither slaves, nor drug addicts!"and "We are the youth you want to destroy!".