| Submit your comments on this article |
| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Azerbaijani Opposition Leader Arrested |
| 2005-10-18 |
| An Azerbaijani opposition leader was arrested in Ukraine and scores of his supporters were detained by police Monday, heightening tensions in the oil-rich former Soviet republic in the run-up to next month's parliamentary election. Rasul Guliyev, who has lived in exile in the United States since 1996, was on his way back to his homeland to participate in the Nov. 6 election when his plane was diverted to Ukraine, where he was arrested on Interpol orders, said Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko. In Azerbaijan, riot police in full combat gear detained scores of opposition party members and prevented protesters from gathering at Baku's international airport. Talyat Aliev, a member of Guliyev's Democratic Party of Azerbaijan, said several hundred people were detained, while a government official pegged the number at 100. |
| Posted by:Fred |