Rail Abbasov
On January 9, the Baku Court of Serious Crimes completed the trial of activist Rail Abbasov, accused of fraud.
In his last statement, Abbasov said that he was arrested on far-fetched and trumped-up charges for defending his friend, human rights defender Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, who was also unreasonably arrested. Abbasov cited numerous inconsistencies in his case as evidence of falsification of his case and asked the court to make a fair decision.
However, the court sentenced Abbasov to 6.5 years of imprisonment.
Earlier, the prosecutor requested that Abbasov be sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment.
*On September 20, 2023, the Nasimi Court of Baku arrested Abbasov for 4 months on charges under Article 178.3.2 (large-scale fraud) of the Criminal Code. Abbasov denies the accusation, considering his active participation in protecting the rights of activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, who was arrested back in December 2022, to be the true reason. Human rights activists recognized both as political prisoners.
Politics
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President of the Council of the European Union Antonio Costa called the head of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.
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Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan published a set of proposals on his Facebook page aimed at establishing long-term peace in the region. Among them, he suggested that Azerbaijan should abandon mutual claims against Armenia, including in international courts. Other proposals include: refraining from using belligerent rhetoric, continuing the demarcation of borders, signing a peace agreement that is 90% ready, mutually implementing arms control, creating a joint mechanism to investigate violations of the ceasefire regime, and dissolving the OSCE Minsk Group.
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The United States announced a new and final military aid package to Ukraine under President Joe Biden’s administration. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin stated in Germany that the total amount of assistance will be $500 million.
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Baku is expected to see the construction of 10 new metro stations. President Ilham Aliyev discussed this during a meeting with journalists on January 7. The head of state noted that locations for the new metro stations have been selected, and investments will start being made this year.
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