The author of the Internet meme “Come on, goodbye” ended up in jail for heroin possession

Human rights activist, editor-in-chief of the newspaper and website in the Talysh language "Tolishi Sado" ("Voice of the Talysh"), Gilal Mamedov, was arrested in Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic told the Interfax agency on Friday, June 22.

Mamedov is also the author of a video that captures the performance of meykhana (Azerbaijani song genre) “Who are you? Come on, goodbye!” The video gained great popularity in RuNet.

“Employees of the Main Department for Combating Drugs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan detained G. Mamedov with 5.183 grams of heroin,” the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs said. “During the arrest, the police officers who carried out operational search activities did not know about Mamedov’s identity, that he was the editor-in-chief of the newspaper and a human rights activist,” explained an employee of the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

According to him, officers also searched Gilal Mamedov’s house, finding another 28.294 grams of heroin. “In connection with the discovery of large quantities of narcotic substances in G. Mamedov’s possession, a preventive measure in the form of arrest was taken against him,” the Ministry of Internal Affairs stated.

Based on the arrest of Mamedov, a criminal case was opened on charges of possession of narcotic substances.