AZERBAIJAN: Azeri riot police breaks down an unsanctioned protest over suspicious deaths of conscripts and soldiers by water cannons and rubber bullets

Record ID: 218297

  • Title: AZERBAIJAN: Azeri riot police breaks down an unsanctioned protest over suspicious deaths of conscripts and soldiers by water cannons and rubber bullets
  • Date: 10th March 2013
  • Summary: BAKU, AZERBAIJAN (MARCH 10, 2013) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS WALKING AND SHOUTING IN AZERI LANGUAGE: "NO TO DEATHS IN ARMY" AND "DO NOT TURN ARMY INTO MORGUE" YOUNG ACTIVISTS JOINING PROTEST AND STARTING TO SHOUT SLOGANS GROUP OF PROTESTERS SHOUTING SLOGANS AS RIOT POLICE CONFRONTS THEM WATER CANNONS MOVING TOWARDS PROTESTERS VARIOUS OF RIOT POLICE OFFICER ON WATER CANNON FIRI
  • Embargoed: 25th March 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Azerbaijan
  • Country: Azerbaijan
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA228KXO7R9T13GUNRH1OOI5SAF
  • Story Text: Police in Azerbaijan fired rubber bullets and a water cannon at hundreds of opposition protesters who took on streets on Sunday (March 10) to protest against violence in the military.
    The protest is one of a series triggered by the sudden death of a soldier, Jeyhun Gubadov, on Jan. 7 at a military barracks.
    The Defence Ministry said initially the soldier had died of a heart attack, but his family believed he was murdered and four soldiers were arrested after an investigation was opened.
    Hundreds of people gathered in the capital Baku shouting "No to deaths in the army" and "Do not turn the army into the morgue" at the rally mostly organised via Facebook by young opposition activists. The demonstration was not sanctioned by the authorities.
    Some of the participants carried photos of conscript Elman Aliyev, whose death was reported on March 6, with no detailed information of the circumstances it occurred in.
    Western governments and human rights groups accused Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded his father in 2003, of rigging elections and of clamping down on the dissent. Protests are often swiftly broken up by security forces.
    Buoyed by oil wealth, Azerbaijan has increased military spending to demonstrate its military power to its neighbour and arch-foe Armenia, against which it fought a war in the 1990s.
    But experts say the army is still weak and needs to be modernised.
    Azeri police violently dispersed protest over soldiers' deaths.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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