On Saturday, police of Binagadi district of Baku burst into “AF Hotel” in Novkhani village and began to arrest young activists, participants of the training conducted by the OSCE Baku office.

Police accused the participants of being oppositionists and of getting prepared for the rally in Baku, the public relations secretary of European Movement Azerbaijan Parviz Azimov told Turan News Agency.

In the youth leaders training representatives of both opposition and ruling party “Yeni Azerbaijan” attended. Police placed the participants of the training, about 20 people, including members of the ruling party, into the car with flashing lights, and drove to Binagadi Police Department. At the same time, the foreign trainers were also almost arrested, and were released at the last moment.
Only after the intervention of the OSCE Baku office management, who contacted with the Interior Ministry, young people returned to the hotel.

On February 12, in Khachmas, activists of Election Monitoring Center and democracy training and Institute of Reporters Freedom and Safety (IRFS) Javid Nabiyev and Gunay Ismayilov were detained. The reason for the detention was the training held by Election Monitoring Center at Sahil hotel. Under the pressure of the police the owner of the hotel refused to provide a place for the event.
When the organizers tried to hold the event in the office of the American organization IREX, the police appeared there as well and kicked the participants out. Ismailova was involved in the project as a trainer, and the police told her that they were accused of disobeying the police and of invasion of premises of other people. According to the civil society, the police fabricate the evidence of the “witnesses”, including the owner of an office rented by IREX.