Baku Sun
March 12 2004

>From the local media

ECHO
Permission rejected

The Baku Mayor’s Office turned down a request by the Karabakh
Liberation Organization (QAT) to give permission to hold three
pickets in front of several government buildings in Baku on 12 March.

The pickets that were set to be held in front of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, the President’s Apparatus and the Ministry of
Defense, were to demand that the government take more effective
measures to defend Ramil Safarov, the Azerbaijani officer who killed
his Armenian counterpart in Budapest in February.

The Mayor’s office related its refusal to give the QAT a go ahead
with the pickets with the organization’s belated appeal. It said that
while appeals to conduct actions should be submitted at least five
days beforehand, the QAT’s request came only on 9 March.

But Akif Naghi, head of the QAT, said his organization will discuss
going to the pickets without authorization.