Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend K.Zarbaliyeva / The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry has denied reports of the arrest of an officer of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. Ilgar Verdiyev, a spokesman for the Ministry, announced that the reports of the arrest of Rasim Muradov, a brigade commander of the military division in which he served, are false.
The commander of the military division did not have any right to arrest the senior officer," Verdiyev stressed. He also noted his unawareness of the punishment of the officer in any form. Alekber Mammadov, the chairman of the Committee to Defend Military Rights, said that after the replies to media representatives' questions by telephone on 18 July, he was arrested at the military division where he was based. The brigade commander convicted him for disclosing military secrets to the press. The chairman of the Committee also noted that he had no information of the arrest of an officer. He did not rule out that Muradov's arrest could be linked with a lawsuit filed against him at the Republican Court Marital of Azerbaijan.
The Court Martial filed a lawsuit against Muradov, convicting him for the misappropriation of office duties and bribery. The officer was on duty at one of the military divisions of the Nakhchivan Autonomic Republic of Azerbaijan.