Azeri opposition leader accuses authorities of provocation

Turan news agency
5 Aug 05

Baku, 5 August: The accusations against Ruslan Basirli are a
provocation organized by the Azerbaijani special services in order
to discredit the Yeni Fikir [New Thought] youth movement, the leader
of the People’s Front of Azerbaijan Party [PFAP], Ali Karimli, told
a news conference today.

The authorities fear that this movement’s influence and activity will
grow in the run-up to the election. All attempts to intimidate or bribe
the leadership of this movement have yielded no results, and therefore,
the authorities decided to resort to provocation, Karimli said.

He said that the provocation was carried out though one of the
movement’s members, Osman Alimuradov, who is probably cooperating
with security bodies.

[Passage omitted: reported details]

The People’s Front of Azerbaijan Party categorically condemns the
provocation against the leader of the youth movement, Ruslan Basirli,
and demands his immediate release.

The party says in a statement that the statement of the Prosecutor’s
Office that Basirli agreed to cooperate with Armenian special services
to overthrow the authorities in Azerbaijan is slander.

The statement said that the law-enforcement bodies have arrested
Basirli and his friends more than once for their participation
in rallies and active fight for democracy. They talked to them,
intimidated them and tried to bribe them. On seeing that Basirli is
not giving up his actions, the authorities decided to accuse him of
betrayal and to arrest him.

“All this is part of the authorities’ dirty campaign against the
youth movement,” the statement said.

The PFAP called on the international community not to remain
indifferent to the fate of Yeni Fikir activists and to protect
Ruslan Basirli.