Court of Appeal keeps Azer Gasymly in custody

The Baku Court of Appeal on Friday considered an appeal against the arrest of political scientist Azer Gasymly, accused of ‘extortion by threats’.

According to his lawyer Fakhraddin Mehdiyev, the defence pointed to the absence of material and procedural grounds for Gasymly's arrest.   According to him, Gasymly did not commit a crime.

Gasymly himself linked the arrest to his social and political activities, and called the charge ‘absurd’.

However, the Court of Appeal did not satisfy the complaint.

The wife of the political scientist, political expert Samira Gasymly called the court's decision ‘expected’ and an imitation of justice.  To her thinking, ‘everything is going according to the scenario of “order” for the arrest of the political scientist. She believes that Gasymly was arrested for telling the truth about what is happening in the country.

Samira Gasymly added that her husband reminded that the wave of repression that began a year ago, is related to the deterioration of the economic situation in the country and geopolitical processes in the region.

‘The authorities seek to silence the voices of those who speak the truth, who open the eyes of the people. As the economic problems deepen, the fear of the authorities becomes stronger. Therefore, they are silencing everyone who can inform and explain the causes of the problems to the population. Azer Gasymly and the journalists were arrested for this very reason,’ Gasymly said.

*Gasymly was detained on 8 December morning as a suspect under Article 182.2.3 of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan (extortion by threats). Under this Article, he faces a sentence of 5 to 10 years' imprisonment. On 9 December, the court arrested him for 4 months.