Azerbaijan rejects int’l criticism of Mammadli arrest

The Azeri Prosecutor-General’s Office has dismissed international criticism of Anar Mammadli’s arrest as an attempt to influence the investigation.Mammadli, head of the independent Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre, was arrested on Dec. 16 on charges of tax evasion and illegal business activity.Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said the arrest was politically motivated. The US embassy in Baku also called for Mammadli’s immediate arrest.“We view the demands to release Mammadli as pressure against the Azerbaijani judiciary,” the Prosecutor-General’s Office said today in a statement. Rights groups say Azerbaijan's strategic location between Russia and Iran, its oil reserves, Europe-bound energy pipelines and its role as a transit route for U.S. troops to reach Afghanistan have cushioned it from Western criticism.Plans for a vital gas development that could provide Europe with an alternative to Russian supplies was signed in the former Soviet nation's capital on Tuesday.ANN.Az