Aysel Umudova
The Baku Court of Appeal considered an appeal against the arrest of 'Meydan TV' journalist Aysel Umudova on Thursday.
According to lawyer Agil Layij, the defence asked the court to cancel the arrest decision or change it to another preventive measure.
The journalist rejects the smuggling charges as saying she has nothing to do with any smuggling.
Umudova said she was being persecuted because of her journalistic activities. However, the court rejected the complaint.
According to her lawyer, Umudova has health problems.
She suffers from panic attacks and an ambulance called twice to help her. On 11 December in the pre-trial detention centre she also felt sick.
*Five employees of 'Meydan TV' and two other media representatives were detained on 6 October on charges of ‘smuggling foreign currency by prior conspiracy’.
As a reminder, on 8 December, the court arrested all of them for 4 months.
Politics
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On December 12, the Union for "Freedom for Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan" published an updated list of political prisoners, which now includes the names of 331 individuals.
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On Thursday, Hikmet Hajiyev, Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan, reiterated Baku’s demand for the termination of the European Union’s observer mission on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. The mission was initially agreed with Baku as a temporary measure, but its activities have since become permanent. Moreover, the composition of the mission and its mandate have been "expanded," Hajiyev said in an interview with journalists.
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On December 12, Azerbaijani Minister of Defense Zakir Hasanov met with a Turkish delegation led by the Commander of the Turkish Air Force, Army General Ziya Cemal Kadıoğlu. During the meeting, the importance of further developing military cooperation between the two countries was emphasized. In turn, Kadıoğlu stressed the need for joint analysis and study of recent global conflicts and modern methods of warfare.
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Public activist Nijat Ibrahim's charges have been toughened, lawyer Zibeyda Ibrahimova told Turan. According to her, Ibrahim was confronted today with a person recognised as a victim.
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