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Two young activists of NiDA oppositionmovement, Bayram Mammadov and Giyas Ibrahimov, have been arrested in Azerbaijan on drug charges and denied lawyer access, Turan news agency reports noting that the young oppositionists are kept in the 12th section of the Narimanov district Police in Baku. 

According to the MIA, over 3 grams of heroin has been confiscated from Bayram Mammadov, who lives in Sabunchy region, and more than 1 kilogram during the inspection of his apartment. Meanwhile, 2.6 grams of heroin has been confiscated from Giyas Ibrahimov, who lives in Nasimi district, and more than 1 kilogram from his apartment.

The lawyer of the detainees, Elchin Sadigov, said that the young men had faced mockery and intimidation: they were obliged to sweep the floor in the temporary detention cell. After the lawyer protested, he was kicked out without managing to speak to the detainees.

NiDA said in a statement that the real reason of detaining the young men is that they had painted on the pedestal of Heydar Aliyev’s monument in the center of Baku at night of May 10.

Under the charges brought against them, the young men face up to 12 years of imprisonment.
According to the Azerbaijani media, at night of Heydar Aliyev’s (current Azerbaijani president's father) birthday, unknown authors painted on the pedestal of the monument, towards which marches traditionally begin to bow to the “nationwide leader” and “savior of the nation” since morning.

The inscription was a pun on the phrase “Congratulations on flower festival,” in the first word of which, two letters were changed giving the word and the phrase a different meaning quite popular among the Azerbaijani dissidents and opposition - “Congratulations on the slavery festival!”

The flower festivalhas been annually celebrated in Azerbaijan on May 10 since 2004. It is dedicated to Heydar Aliyev’s birthday. Huge sums of money are spent on the festival. In particular, Baku City Hall published the figure 15 million dollars in 2007, and in 2013, on Heydar Aliyev’s 90th anniversary, this sum exceeded 76 million dollars.