Foremost, it should be noted that the incident took place right after the speech of Prime Minister Artur Rasizadeh. The latter came to the Parliament with the whole Cabinet of Ministers to deliver the government’s annual report to the Parliament. Some opposition papers predicted a day before that tensions will break out in the Parliament after Rasizadeh’s speech. The Prime Minister gave a rather dull report about the progress of the economy and social welfare in the country by showing facts and figures known to most of the public.

Immediately after his report, Abdullayev took the floor and harshly criticized the report and the general performance of the government. Specifically, he lashed out at the business climate in the country. Speaker of the Parliament Oktay Asadov tried to interrupt him, but Abdullayev would not stop. Then Agamali stepped in and in a very vulgar way demanded that Abdullayev stop his remarks. The cursing and swearing quickly turned into a rather ugly fist-fight on the floor of the newly refurbished and repaired Parliament.

Subsequently, on Monday Abdullayev was arrested and charged with hooliganism and causing trauma to another person. The court of Baku found him guilty and Abdullayev was detained for two months. Prior the arrest, Parliamentarians were assembled for an emergency meeting to lift Abdullayev’s immunity. Heated discussions broke out in the Parliament regarding this issue. Some MPs argued that the punishment was too harsh for the fist-fight and that Abdullayev should simply apologize. Opposition MPs expressed concerns that the incident could turn into a bad precedent in the future and every time the government wants to get rid of opposition deputies, they would provoke such fights. Finally, there were those who could not understand why Abdullayev was being punished and Agamali not, if both of them participated in the fight with the latter even throwing the first punch.

Nevertheless, the final results of the vote were rather bad news for Abdullayev. 79 MPs voted in favor of lifting his immunity and only 15 were against. Others either abstained or did not vote. “This incident is a spit in the face of the ruling party. He should not get away with it,” said Siyavush Novruzov, member of the ruling party. “Some people want to return Azerbaijan back into the 1990s, when decisions were made with the power of hands. We will not allow it,” echoed his fellow party member Mubariz Gurbanli.

Indeed, common fist-fights in the Parliament during the early 1990s are often used by the authorities as a way to discredit the previous regime led by the late Abulfez Elchibey. Having the same now is not earning the current administration any respect.

Local analysts argue there might be two reasons for the harsh response towards Abdullayev. One is related to his personal character and wealth. Abdullayev is known in general public as a person with a criminal background. He is a wealthy businessman and reportedly even maintains a small group of 60-70 sportsmen/personal bodyguards. His is very emotional and often impulsive, using slang and vulgar language and refusing to recognize any authority. His being in the Parliament (many people still can not understand how he even made it into Parliament) sends a concerned message to the authorities of what the Parliament could look like in several years – a house full of rich businessmen, not subordinated to the executive branch.

This incident may have been used by the central authorities not only calm down Abdullayev himself, as he has been numerously creating scenes in the Parliament before, but also to send a warning message to all other like-minded MPs and future MPs to not misbehave.

Another version circulating regarding his arrest is that he is being punished by Minister of Interior Ramil Usubov. Several months ago, Abdullayev was on the vanguard of the attacks against Usubov, demanding his resignation. At that time, local analysts believed that the fight was within the ruling party itself to get rid of Usubov. But the latter survived and now might be striking back.

Arresting maverick MP Abdullayev might be a necessary step to cool down the ambitions of the rich oligarchs, but two questions still remain: why was he arrested while holding parliamentary immunity, and why does Agamali remain unpunished?