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The preliminary investigation on PFPA deputy chairman FuadGahramanly’s case under Articles 281 and 283 of the Azerbaijani Criminal Code (Public appeals directed against the state and Excitation of national, racial or religious hostility)is ending, however, a new charge has been brought against himunder Article 220.2, appeals to massdisorders, the oppositionist’s lawyer said according to Turan news agency. 
According to the information, Gahramanli was arrested in December 2015 connected with the November 26 Nardaran events, when the Muslim Unity Movement leader TalehBagirzade and a group of his companions were detained in a special operation. As a result of clashes with the police, 6 people died, 2 policemen among them.

Bagirzade’s several supporters were soon arrested, and Gahramanli was accused of participating in the disordersbased on his publications on the social media calling on the Nardaran people to defend their rights. “International organizations and local observers consider the accusations far-fetched and politically motivated,” the agency informs.

The oppositionist faces up to five years of imprisonment under each of the articles; the punishment under the article charging forappeals to mass disordersprovides up to three years of imprisonment, the lawyer said according to the Caucasian Knot.The lawyer maintains thatall the accusations brought against Gahramanli, including the new one, are ungrounded. 

“It is about Gahramanli’s opinion about the Nardaran events, which he posted on his Facebook page. He just expressed his opinion. However, the investigation has taken up a biased position over the oppositionist’s opinioninterpreting it as a criminal act,”Karimli said.

Gahramanli himself denies all the accusations and considers his arrest politically motivated. It is also noted that Gahramanli is included in list of political prisoners, which was published on December 23, 2015, by the representatives of the Azerbaijani civil society’s working group.

Citing ElchinSadigov, the lawyer of young opposition activists arrested for a graffiti on the pedestal of Heydar Aliyev’s monument, the online source also informs that he met BayramMammadov and GiyasIbrahimov in Baku remand center-1. 

According to the information, the young people gave written testimonies about the tortures they had faced after the detention, which ended after they were moved from the police to the remand center, where they had the opportunity to contact their relatives.

In its turn, the Azerbaijani opposition online media outlet Meydan TV published BayramMammadov’s description of tortures they had faced in the police department. 

According to the information, Giyas painted the graffiti, and Bayram photographed it and posted on Facebook. “They said they had done it because May 10 overlapped with the 40th day after the first deaths in Karabakh, as well as to protest against injustice in the country. The lawyer also posted an explanatory statement about beatings and tortureson his pagewritten by BayramMammadovunder his name,” the website reports.

According to Bayramov, after three people in civilian outfits had taken him to the police department, where he was beaten, he was askedwhy the monument had been photographed, and who his accomplice was. As a result of the beatings, Bayramov fainted and was taken to the Regional Police Department, where he was againbeated and was demanded to confess his guilt in drug charges brought against him.

“When they threatened that they would take my trousers off and commit indecent acts with baton, I had to confess the false drug charges and testified in the order they demanded. Then I was taken to the general and told that if I laid flowers on the monument, gave an interview to AzTv, and apologized in front of the monument, I would be released. When I refused, I was taken away and beaten again,”Bayramov said as cited by the website.

The next day, the mockery went on – after Bayrmaov refused to swipe the floor, the head of the Temporary Detention Center ordered the employees to put a baton into him and photograph him in that look. As a result, he had to agree. He was given a broom with a scoop and photographed. According to Bayramov, such beatings began to have a systematic character. “When they saw handcuff traces on my hands and feet, they put my hands and feet on my back and tied them up with sticky tape. They put me facedown, one of them sat on my back and hold my feet, and the other beat me on my heels with a stick.Then they raised me with tied up hands and feet and threw me on the ground,” the website cites him saying.

Meanwhile, the Caucasian Knot informs that the human rights organization Amnesty International stated about the politically motivated arrest of the young activists in Azerbaijan condemning Ibrahimov and Mammadov’s arrest.

Human right defenders called on the Azerbaijani authorities to carry out an immediate, effective and impartial investigation into their allegations of their ill-treatment and the fabrication of false charges. Earlier, International organizations Human Rights Watch and Freedom House had joined the calls of ending the persecution of the activists and releasing Mammadov and Ibrahimov.

In its turn, the press service of the Azerbaijani MIA denies the political motive in Mammadov and Ibrahimov’s case, as well as the use of tortures against them claiming that they are detainedon suspicion of committing crimes.

According to the Azerbaijani media, at night of Heydar Aliyev’s (current Azerbaijani president's father) birthday, unknown authors painted on the pedestal of the monument, towards which marches traditionally begin to bow to the “nationwide leader” and “savior of the nation” since morning.

The inscription was a pun on the phrase “Congratulations on flower festival,” in the first word of which, two letters were changed giving the word and the phrase a different meaning quite popular among the Azerbaijani dissidents and opposition - “Congratulations on the slavery festival!”

The flower festival has been annually celebrated in Azerbaijan on May 10 since 2004. It is dedicated to Heydar Aliyev’s birthday. Huge sums of money are spent on the festival. In particular, Baku City Hall published the figure 15 million dollars in 2007, and in 2013, on Heydar Aliyev’s 90th anniversary, this sum exceeded 76 million dollars.