Freed opposition leader prevented from leaving Azerbaijan
| Publisher | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| Publication Date | 20 May 2016 |
| Cite as | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Freed opposition leader prevented from leaving Azerbaijan, 20 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/576901374.html [accessed 18 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
May 20, 2016
By RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service
BAKU – An Azerbaijani opposition leader who was freed from jail on a presidential clemency in March has not been allowed to leave Azerbaijan.
Tofiq Yaqublu, deputy chairman of the opposition Musavat party, was not allowed to cross the border on May 19 while trying to travel to neighboring Georgia by car.
Yaqublu's lawyer, Nemat Kerimli, said border guards told his client that he had been included on the list of individuals who are banned from leaving Azerbaijan.
But Kerimli said Yaqublu had received an official note from the Prosecutor-General's Office in April saying that Yaqublu's ban on traveling abroad had been lifted.
Yaqublu spent two years in prison until his release on March 17 on a presidential clemency.
Analysts say President Ilham Aliyev's pardons of some political prisoners in March were an apparent move to deflect Western criticism of Azerbaijan's poor human rights record.
Link to original story on RFE/RL website
