Late in the evening on May 9, on the eve of Heydər Əliev’s, the previous president of Azerbaijan’s, birthday, a graffiti appeared on the pedestal of the monument dedicated to Heydər Əliev in the park of the same name, across from the building of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan in Baku. The message, written in Azeri, says: ‘Qul bayramınız mübarək!’ (engl.: Happy Slave Day!).
In the making of the message, the unknown author used a play on words, changing the first 2 letters in the first word of ‘Gül bayramınız mübarək!’ (engl.: Happy Flower Day!), and thereby giving the sentence a whole new sense. In translation, the greeting ‘Happy Flower Day!’ is used by public servants and all those loyal to the regime; ‘Happy Slave Day!’ is uttered by dissidents and the opposition.
Fuck the system! was written on the front side of the pedestal. Already early next morning the said message was erased, and the local police started patrolling in the park, as per the reports of the local media.
Already on the evening of May 10 two anarchists, Bayram Məmmədov and Qiyaseddin Ibrahimov, had been detained. Supposedly they were responsible for the graffiti.
According to the official communication of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, upon their arrest and during the house searches of Bayram Məmmədov and Qiyaseddin İbrahimov more than 3 kg of heroin were discovered. 2.607 kg were seized from Qiyaseddin İbrahimov, who resides in Baku, and an additional 1.01 kg was found and seized in the process of searching his apartment.
During the arrest of Bayram Məmmədov, who resides in the Sabunchiskiy district, 2.904 kg of heroin were discovered and seized; during the search of his apartment another 1.15 kg of heroin were found.
Of course, a person, who was not capable of buying books for 4 manat could not be in the possession of the necessary sum of money that would allow him acquire heroine in the stated amounts. The government decided to go about it in this way, since art. 221 UK AR (Mischief) assumes a punishment equivalent to public work from 160-200 hours or incarceration for up to one year. Assuming that we are talking about graffiti on the monument of the Holy One, the government could allow such a ‘soft’ punishment. Now the anarchists are being fed art. 234.4.3. UK AR, which presumes incarceration from 5 to 12 years with confiscation of personal belongings. This absurd is not even being balanced in a just manner, which is allowed due to the government’s sentiment of invincibility.
On May 12, Bayram Məmmədov and Qiyassedin İbrahimov were arrested for 4 months as they awaited their first court date. On another note, the court decided to start an enquiry due to rumours of use of torture on detainees.
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Translated from: https://vk.com/streetmob_org?w=wall-38146673_10596
Originally published on 14.05.2016 on the vk.com page Street Mob.
Left Russia. 