Anarchist Bajram Mammadov was detained and arrested in Azerbaijan with another activist, Giyas Ibrahimov, in 2016 for posting “Happy Slaves Day” on a monument belonging to Heydar Aliyev, the former president and also the father of the current president of the country, Ilham Aliyev.
Later, the court sentenced both activists to long terms of imprisonment, accusing them of drug dealing. Mammadov and Ibrahimov were released from prison in 2019 with an ‘amnesty’.
Mammedov migrated to Istanbul a few months ago but his friends declared his ‘disappearance’ on 4 May after they did not hear from him for two days. He was found dead and his body was lifted from water on 5 May in Istanbul.
“So far, the details of the incident are unknown, but sites close to the government are already writing that it was suicide. But the investigation has not even begun yet”, his friends informed Jam News. “He was accepted for a graduate programme in Europe and he was very passionate about it: he was not the type of person to commit suicide”, they stated.
After news spread about his death, anarchists in Istanbul held a protest in front of the Azerbaijani Embassy blaming the Azerbaijani government for his murder, Mesopotamia News Agency reported.
They chanted slogans saying: “The killer government will be accountable” and the protesters stated that they would follow the case closely.
