Azerbaijani police have identified a man who died on January 8 after setting himself on fire and denied sp
eculation that his self-immolation was linked to the razing of homes in the capital, Baku, RFE/RL reports.
The Yasamal District Police Department in Baku said late on January 8 that the man was 21-year-old Kamran Agayev.
Police said an investigation had been launched on suspicion of incitement to suicide, but they did not say whether any particular person or organization was suspected.
Agayev set himself on fire on a street where city authorities are demolishing old buildings to make way for new development projects.
Residents have been protesting for months, seeking greater compensation for their lost property.
District government official Samad Mamedov said “Agayev’s death has nothing to do with compensation for demolished properties.”
There have been at least five self-immolations in Azerbaijan in the last 13 months.
The death of a Nagorno-Karabakh war veteran who set himself on fire in December 2013 to protest the poverty many veterans face prompted a public outcry.