Creator of comic video on Baku protest appears, says he was intimidated by police

21.40

The creator of a comic video based off the recent protest rally in Baku, graphic designer Rasul Hassan, who disappeared on the morning of February 18, has been released from the police station. His father Elshan Hasanov told Turan news agency about his release, and said the police detained Rasul in the morning of February 18 and took him to the station. There he was questioned about his opposition views, his family, and he was forced to remove the video, and threatened that if he made his detention public, “more stringent measures” would be taken against him.

Elshan Hasanov also said that this is not the first case of pressure on their family by the authorities, and that they intend to report the incident to the embassies of Western countries in Azerbaijan.

17:00

Graphic designer Rasul Hassan was allegedly abducted by police on the morning of February 18. News of his whereabouts has yet to follow, write his friends on Facebook. 

There have been no official comments on the matter as of publication. 

There is speculation he went missing because of a comical video Hassan put together using footage from the opposition rally on February 16. In this video, special forces that cordoned off the building of the Central Election Commission of Azerbaijan dance the Azerbaijani Yalla national dance.

A protest rally against fraud in the parliamentary elections was organized by the opposition parties Republican Alternative and Musavat.  

But even before the start of the rally, most of its participants were detained by police, taken far out of town and released there.  

The entire territory in front of the election commission building was also cordoned off by the police and special forces.

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