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Azerbaijani Commits Self-Immolation Over Unpaid Fine
January 25, 2011
BAKU -- An Azerbaijani villager has died after setting himself and his
home ablaze in desperation after police pressured him to pay a fine
for chopping down trees, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reports.
Adalat Huseynov, 35, died of his burns on January 21, one day after
setting himself alight. His wife and two sons, aged 12 and 14 years,
remain in critical condition in a Baku hospital. The family's daughter
was not at home at the time.
Huseynov's familiy lived in the village of Zamanli in Azerbaijan's
western Gadabay district, which does not have gas lines. Huseynov's
relatives say local police officials had been harassing him into
paying a fine of 1,000 manats ($1,250) for cutting timber to heat his
home.
Vasif Nabiyev, director of the Gadabay Regional Forestry Protection
and Restoration Office, told local media last week that Huseynov had
been fined several times before for illegally cutting wood.
"The last time he didn't pay the fine but continued to [cut wood],"
Nabiyev added. Local police officials denied they had harassed
Huseynov.
Huseynov's wife, Hakima Huseynova, told RFE/RL today that police had
visited their home almost every day since September when the fine was
imposed.
"On December 28, five or six drunken police came to our house," she
said. "They began beating my husband in front of my sons and took him
away in his underwear. Adalat was held at the police station for two
days, after which he sold our only cow and paid half the fine."
His wife said the police set a deadline of January 25 for Huseynov to
pay the fine or face trial in court. "Adalat said he was told he had
to pay the fine or he would be sentenced to one or two years and would
die in prison," she said.
Yegana Amiraslanova, a former parliament candidate from Gadabay
district, is related to Huseynov. She accuses local forestry officials
of cutting and selling timber, which she says is dangerous as the
district is on the "line of contact" separating Armenian and
Azerbaijani forces in the breakaway Azerbaijani region of
Nagorno-Karabakh.
"The Armenians can target the village more easily once the trees are
felled," Amiraslanova explained.
From: A. Papazian
Azerbaijani Commits Self-Immolation Over Unpaid Fine
January 25, 2011
BAKU -- An Azerbaijani villager has died after setting himself and his
home ablaze in desperation after police pressured him to pay a fine
for chopping down trees, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reports.
Adalat Huseynov, 35, died of his burns on January 21, one day after
setting himself alight. His wife and two sons, aged 12 and 14 years,
remain in critical condition in a Baku hospital. The family's daughter
was not at home at the time.
Huseynov's familiy lived in the village of Zamanli in Azerbaijan's
western Gadabay district, which does not have gas lines. Huseynov's
relatives say local police officials had been harassing him into
paying a fine of 1,000 manats ($1,250) for cutting timber to heat his
home.
Vasif Nabiyev, director of the Gadabay Regional Forestry Protection
and Restoration Office, told local media last week that Huseynov had
been fined several times before for illegally cutting wood.
"The last time he didn't pay the fine but continued to [cut wood],"
Nabiyev added. Local police officials denied they had harassed
Huseynov.
Huseynov's wife, Hakima Huseynova, told RFE/RL today that police had
visited their home almost every day since September when the fine was
imposed.
"On December 28, five or six drunken police came to our house," she
said. "They began beating my husband in front of my sons and took him
away in his underwear. Adalat was held at the police station for two
days, after which he sold our only cow and paid half the fine."
His wife said the police set a deadline of January 25 for Huseynov to
pay the fine or face trial in court. "Adalat said he was told he had
to pay the fine or he would be sentenced to one or two years and would
die in prison," she said.
Yegana Amiraslanova, a former parliament candidate from Gadabay
district, is related to Huseynov. She accuses local forestry officials
of cutting and selling timber, which she says is dangerous as the
district is on the "line of contact" separating Armenian and
Azerbaijani forces in the breakaway Azerbaijani region of
Nagorno-Karabakh.
"The Armenians can target the village more easily once the trees are
felled," Amiraslanova explained.
From: A. Papazian