A Rally In Defence Of Political Prisoners To Be Held In Azerbaijan

On Saturday, the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan is going to hold a rally in Baku demanding to release political prisoners. According to Aidyn Guliyev, chairman of the organising committee for this rally, about 3,000 people are expected to take part. The Baku municipal authorities refused to allow this rally to take place deeming it to be inexpedient. The Baku interior ministry's department said that law-enforcement agencies were going to toughly oppose the attempt to hold the "unsanctioned" rally. Nevertheless, the Democratic Party does not give up its plans to hold the rally saying that if the rally is broken up by force, the country's leadership will be responsible for all possible negative consequences. The Azeri official authorities deny that there are any political prisoners in the republic. However, according to calculations made by human rights organisations, there are from several dozen to several hundred political prisoners in Azerbaijan now.

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