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Azerbaijani Youth Opposition Leader Arrested in Alleged Coup Plot

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  • Azerbaijani Youth Opposition Leader Arrested in Alleged Coup Plot

    Azerbaijani Youth Opposition Leader Arrested in Alleged Coup Plot

    Agence France Presse
    Aug 4 2005

    05/08/2005 00:47

    BAKU, Aug 4 (AFP) - A youth opposition leader in former Soviet
    Azerbaijan has been arrested for planning to overthrow the government
    in a plot allegedly hatched by the US' National Democratic Institute
    (NDI), Armenian secret police and the local opposition, prosecutors
    said late Thursday.

    Ruslan Bashirli, the charismatic leader of the Yeni Fikir youth
    movement which has called for President Ilham Aliyev's ouster,
    was arrested on charges of attempting "to take power by force,"
    the General Prosecutor's office said in a statement.

    Bashirli was arrested on Wednesday after a member of Yeni Fikir
    informed the authorities that the group's leader had taken 2,000
    dollars (1,600 euros) from operatives of Azerbaijan's rival Armenia
    at a secret meeting in neighboring Georgia, the statement said.

    Bashirli told the Armenians he represented forces "acting on the
    instructions of the National Democratic Institute of the USA," and
    had received "specific instructions from representatives of this
    organization to prepare a revolution in Azerbaijan," according to
    the statement.

    NDI is a US non-governmental organization dedicated to promoting
    democracy in developing countries, but has been criticized by
    regimes in the former Soviet Union who accuse it of supporting the
    revolutions that have swept Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan over the
    past two years.

    Prosecutors also said Bashirli's plans were being backed by one
    of Azerbaijan's leading opposition parties, the National Front of
    Azerbaijan Party.

    Azerbaijan recently relaxed a crackdown on the opposition after
    heavy Western pressure, allowing anti-government groups to openly
    demonstrate this summer for the first time since 2003.

    The new arrest raises concerns that the oil-rich state will clamp
    down on opposition activity again ahead of parliamentary elections
    scheduled for November.
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