Zaur Gurbanli
Zaur Gurbanli is a blogger and youth political activist from Azerbaijan. A member of the board of the youth movement, N!DA, Gurbanli has been in detention since April 1, 2013, on fabricated charges of illegal possession of explosives. Six other N!DA activists were arrested under spurious charges on March 7, March 14, and March 30, in what seems to be authorities' retaliation linked with anti-government protest on March 10.
On September 12, 2013, Gurbanli and seven others who were arrested from March-May 2013 and charged with possession of drugs and explosives, and hooliganism, were additionally charged with planning to organize acts of public disorder and using Molotov cocktails at the March 10 protest against deaths in the army. NIDA and family members deny the validity of these charges, claiming that the police planted the weapons and drugs in order to have a legal pretext to put Gurbanli in jail. Despite no substantial evidence linking him to the charges, he was sentenced to eight years of imprisonment on May 6, 2014.
Zaur Gurbanli was RELEASED on December 30, 2014 after receiving a pardon.