Activist arrested in connection with Saleh Rustamov’s case is released

Published: 25 May 2022 17:44

The political activist served his detention time.

Arrested member of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), Agil Maharramov, was released from prison today.

Fellow party members reported he is doing fine and is currently at home.

Maharramov was arrested on May 25, 2018, along with the chairman of the Narimanov branch of the PFPA, Babek Hasanov, and the chairman of the Youth Committee of the party, Ruslan Nasirli. Hasanov was pardoned last year.

They are accused of money laundering together with regional PFPA head, Saleh Rustamov. Rustamov used to send money from his home in Russia to Azerbaijan in order to help party members and relatives making ends meet. The prosecutor’s office alleges that Maharramov, Nasirli and Hasanov took the money and brought it to the party chairman illegally.

While the official statement of the prosecutor’s office refers to an amount of almost half-million dollars, Rustamov and the three accused claim that the value is around five-thousand dollars.

Ali Karimli, current chairman of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan, said the accusation was fabricated and described the arrests as a continuation of years of repression against the party.

Saleh Rustamov was arrested in May 2018 and was in a long protest hunger strike in the end of 2021. He is an old member of the PFPA. Living in Russia since 1998, Saleh Rustamov was detained when coming to visit his relatives in Azerbaijan and charged with drug trafficking and money laundry. He refuses the charges and believes the imprisonment is politically motivated.