Court of Appeal rejects journalist's complaint against ban on telephone conversations with lawyer

On 17 January the Baku Court of Appeal rejected the complaint of journalist Sevinj Vagifgyzy against the restriction of her right to have telephone conversations with her lawyer. The hearings were held without the participation of the journalist's lawyer.

"At the previous hearing, on 15 January, the escorts did not allow Vagifgyzy to leave the glass cage, although the judge ordered to let her out. However, at the insistence of the head of the convoy, the court backtracked, not granting our petition.  I was deprived of the opportunity to advise my client," lawyer Elchin Sadygov told Turan.

For this reason, the defence refused to participate in the trial on January 17. "The judiciary continued the session with the state lawyer and did not satisfy the complaint," Sadygov said.

The defence considers the ban on phone conversations between Vagifgyzy and her lawyer by the Penitentiary Service SIZO to be unlawful.

It was not possible to get a comment from the Penitentiary Service.

* Sevinj Vagifgyzy is the director of "Abzas Media", who has been under arrest along with several employees of the online publication since 20 November last year.  All are accused of currency smuggling. The journalists deny the charges and link their criminal prosecution to "Abzas Media"s anti-corruption investigations.