Court of Appeal upholds NIDA activist in detention

Today the Baku Appeals Court upheld a complaint of Mamed Azizov, the NIDA activist, about the extension of his detention for another two months, according to his lawyer Fariz Namazly. He called the court's decision unreasonable, since no investigation is carried out. In addition, there is no need to maintain Azizov in custody because he was not able to put pressure on witnesses. He also will not hide from the investigation because he considers himself innocent.

According to the lawyer, the beginning of the hearing may begin in December.

On March 9 TV channels showed footage of rapid shooting interrogations of arrested activists of NIDA - Mamed Azizov, Bakhtiyar Guliyev, and Shahin Novruzlu. It was alleged that the young people gathered for a protest on March 10 to use against the police "Molotov cocktails" and give the protesters drugs.

Azizov later filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of National Security and AzTV, but Sabail court refused to take it into production. Defense filed an appeal.

Currently, there are seven activists of NIDA under arrest. Amnesty International has recognized the detainees “prisoners of conscience.”—16/06B--