Press releases from DEVAMM and Forum 18, an Oslo based organisation dealing particularly with the freedoms of thought, belief and religion, reports that Imam Ibragimoglu of the Juma mosque in Baku was originally summoned to the Heavy Crimes Investigation Department of the Republican Prosecutor Administration as an ´alleged witness in a criminal case,´ presumably the unrest during and immediately after the October 15 elections. However, said Seymur Rashidov, spokesperson for DEVAMM, to Forum 18; “there is no indication what that case was about and who was allegedly involved”. After eleven hours of questioning, the Imam was detained and placed in solitary confinement awaiting his court hearing, to take place within 48 hours of the initial arrest. The purpose of this hearing is to decide whether the detainee will be charged with a criminal offence or released. Agakhan Akhadov, investigator at the General Procuracy for Especially Serious Crimes to which Ibragimobgly was summoned, declined to give Forum 18 any details on what the charges to be brought againsty Ibragimoglu might be. Rashidov added, though, that Akhadov had been reluctant to sign the warrant to detain Ibragimoglu, believing there was no reason for his detention. According to Rashidov, this is why the warrant was instead signed by Ramid Rzayev. Ibragimoglu´s lawyer Elton Guliyev told the Azerbaijani news agency TURAN that his client was detained on suspicion of violations of articles 220.1, on ´organization and involvement in mass disorders´ and 315.2, classifying his actions as ´insubordination to authorities´.
Two days after the rigged October 15 elections, police raided the JUma mosque during the Friday prayers in what appears to have been an attempt to arrest Ibragimoglu and his colleague Azer Ramizoglu. Ibragimoglu narrowly escaped the police by seeking refuge at the nearby Norwegian Embassy where he remained for four days and only left after Azerbaijani law enforcement authorities guaranteed that no claims against him would be brought. His arrest is, therefore, a plain breach of these promises by the very same authorities who made them. The arrest also follows what a media campaign against Ibragimoglu which went on for several weeks and included allegations that he was abroad and was sought by Interpol. To silence these lies, Ibragimoglu gave interviews making clear that he was in Baku and that any claims of him being sought by Interpol were false and unfounded.
