Blockade of the village of Soyudlu has been going on for ten days
Events in Soyudlu
Ten days have passed since the protest of the residents of the Soyudlu village of the Gadabay region of Azerbaijan was brutally dispersed. Entry and exit from the village are still closed, the police do not let anyone except the villagers, especially journalists, into Soyudlu. Residents are also allowed to leave the village and return only after checking their documents. Villagers who secretly talk to the media say the police are keeping people out.
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“People are afraid to speak”
A villager who did not want to be named told BBC News Azerbaijan that “people are intimidated and forced to be silent, or they are forced to say what they need, and everyone is silent for fear that their children will be slandered, they will put us in jail as drug dealers, we are scared and we are silent.”
“It’s impossible to talk on the phone, they don’t even let us out of the village. If we had the opportunity, we would go to Baku to express our protest and our dissatisfaction. We are not making a coup, we are demanding our rights. What have we done, that we are being held hostage, and we have placed two policemen in the village every 100 meters,” a resident said by phone.
Another resident says that it is difficult for outsiders to enter the village, but inside the village, residents can freely go to each other’s houses.
Residents noted that the problems of the village remained unresolved, and administrative detainees were not released. A resident who took part in the actions in the village and was temporarily detained for this, said that he was released on the same day, but now he does not want to talk about those events.
It was not possible to get a response from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the claims of the residents of Soyudlu.
Events in Soyudlu
What happened?
From the morning of June 22, entry and exit to the Soyudlyu village of Gadabay region were restricted. Local residents have been protesting here for the last two days. They oppose the construction of a new artificial lake to discharge sewage from the nearby Gadabay gold mine.
Soyudlu is located in a mountainous area 450 km west of Baku. The Gadabay field is being mined by the British company Anglo Asian Mining. The first gold mining here began in 2009.
According to the villagers, the environment has been seriously affected after many years of operation of the gold mine. The air is polluted with cyanide gas, which is harmful to public health. Villagers say the construction of a second artificial lake for pasture toxic waste will further aggravate the situation.
On June 20, police officers used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse a protest rally by residents of the village of Soyudlu. According to them, about 10 residents were injured during the clash.
On June 21, residents continued to protest. Their representatives were received by the head of the executive power of Gadabay region. Then a special commission created under the Cabinet of Ministers came to the village to conduct an investigation.
But all this did not solve the problems of the villagers. On June 22, the entrance and exit to the village was closed by the police. Approximately 10 residents have been arrested, and relatives say they cannot contact them and do not know where they are being held.
In Baku, two activists, Giyas Ibrahimov and Elmir Abbasov, were arrested, who harshly criticized the authorities for these events on social networks.
“The blockade of the village continues”
Afiaddin Mammadov, coordinator of the Soyudlu working group, says the situation in the village remains tense:
“Residents are still unable to get in touch. It looks like they threatened the local population that if they contacted Baku, they would be found out and punished. Therefore, they are reluctant to provide information, and we hardly get it. However, we have already prepared an appeal for those who were administratively arrested and sent it to the Court of Appeal.”
“The post was not established by illegal armed groups”
Deputy Fazil Mustafa, a member of the Milli Majlis Committee on Human Rights, told Turan that “when special operations are carried out, a post was set up in the village, and a temporary one at that.”
“Perhaps in 7-10 days it will be removed. The post was not established by illegal armed groups. It was installed by the state police. Therefore, there is nothing surprising here.”
According to the deputy, repressions in the village of Soyudlu are out of the question:
“There was an incident, the state should have intervened. The commission has been created, it is working, and as soon as it completes its work, a statement will be made on this matter, and the posts will be removed.”
Events in Soyudlu
“Traditional government policy based on force…”
Rufat Safarov, co-founder of the human rights organization Line of Defense, told Radio Azadlyg that the authorities continue their traditional power policy in the village of Soyudlu:
“Undoubtedly, the demands put forward by the villagers at the political and environmental levels are fully justified. What do the villagers say? After the creation of an artificial lake, they note an increase in the number of diseases and deaths among the population. This is also confirmed by independent experts.
The human rights activist says that the official reaction to all this is inadequate:
“The village is under lockdown, a state of emergency is declared de facto, entry and exit are restricted, administrative arrests are being made… The right to freedom, which is a constitutional and conventional right, is grossly violated. Our communication with defenseless villagers is hindered, those who talk about problems are threatened.”
In addition, the introduction of additional government forces into the village adds panic to an already difficult situation, Safarov said.
Events in Soyudlu
