Azerbaijani taxi driver dead after self-immolation
| Publisher | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| Publication Date | 21 September 2015 |
| Cite as | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Azerbaijani taxi driver dead after self-immolation, 21 September 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/561d048ec.html [accessed 25 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. |
September 21, 2015
By RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service
SUMQAYIT, Azerbaijan – A taxi driver in Azerbaijan's western city of Sumqayit has died after setting himself on fire to protest alleged "misconduct" by local traffic police.
It was at least the seventh self-immolation protest in Azerbaijan since the beginning of 2014.
The Sumqayit city prosecutor's office and police department issued a joint statement saying that Maqsad Suleymanov, 27, was rushed to a hospital in the capital, Baku, on September 20, where he died several hours later.
According to the statement, the reasons for the apparent suicide are unknown.
But eyewitnesses said on social networks that Suleymanov poured gasoline on himself and lit the fire, saying he was protesting against misconduct by traffic police.
The string of acts of self-immolation in Azerbaijan, many of them resulting in death, followed the death of a Nagorno-Karabakh war veteran who set himself on fire in December 2013 to protest the severe poverty many veterans live in.
Link to original story on RFE/RL website
