A drama happened in Yevlakh city of Azerbaijan before the 8 April protest rally
As you have already known, on April 8 the Azerbaijani opposition held a protest rally in Baku city. Many protesters failed reaching the rally area because of the severe intervention of law enforcement bodies of Azerbaijan. You can check your e-mail for my previous post on the protest rally.
Now I will tell you one incident, that happened in Yevlakh region of Azerbaijan. Chairwoman of Yevlakh city branch of Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan Sheker Isgenderli and her relatives came through the whole process of tragic-comedy type drama.
Sheker Isgenderli’s house has been under a full police control in Yevlakh city after the rally decision was made by the Public Chamber. All the people coming to her house were interrogated, controlled and stopped. Even people passing by her house were stopped and interrogated by the police in civic uniform and they never felt uneasy remaining for whole days in front of her house as if encircling her house from all sides.
On April 7 party member Gulnar Mammadova and her mother Numune Abdurahimova were taken to police station. When police came to Sheker Isgenderly house at 23.00 she was away from her house and the police attempted to take her sisters to police. “At night the police came to our house and said that Sheker Isgenderli should come at police station. Just 30minutes earlier I had left house. They invited my sisters to go with them to police station. My sisters told them their rush in was an assault at their house and privacy. Police, then instructed us to come to police station on certain in the morning” – says Sheker Isgenderli.
The next morning her sisters did not go to police. Precinct police Gurban Gasimov came to her house with several police and stated that they had received a complaint letter on Sheker Isgenderli. They said Numune Abdurahimova had complained as if Sheker Isgenderli seduced her daughter. Her daughter Gulnar Mammadova is 25 years old and is a member of for already 7 years. Sheker Isgenderli was in Baku all these times and the police demanded her return.
Sheker Isgenderli says, the police chief for Yevlakh city Natiq Mashadiyev is standing behind this tragic-comedy. He has been disturbing her many times. The similar situation also happened on March 8, 2012, when the local branch of Public Chamber held its meeting. Police chief sent a group of police to her house, when seeing two guests from Baku at the meeting, Gozel Bayramli, deputy-chairwoman of PFPA and Irada Nariman, deputy-chairwoman of party’s Supreme Assembly.
Sheker Isgenderli says, she knows the reason for crackdown on her: “There are many women in the party’s membership. This is why they put a pressure on me. The Police chief tries to intimidate the women and stop them joining the protest rallies”
She says she went through many hardships to leave her house to come to Baku to join the protest rally on April 8, 2012.