The Court of Appeal has remanded Anar Mammadli in custody

On May 15, On May 15, the Baku Court of Appeal did not satisfy the complaint of the head of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center (EMDSC) Anar Mammadli on refusal to transfer to house arrest, his lawyer Elmar Suleymanov said.

At the trial, Mammadli rejected the smuggling charge against him and linked the criminal case to his public and human rights activities.  It was brought to the attention of the court that Mammadli's arrest was carried out in violation of Articles 5 (right to freedom and personal integrity) and 18 (Limits on the use of restrictions on rights) of the European Convention of Human Rights.

*Anar Mammadli was arrested on April 30 on charges of smuggling by conspiracy by a group of persons (art.206.3.2 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia). Initially, he was involved in the “Abzas Media case". Subsequently, his case was separated into a separate proceeding.

Numerous international organizations and the US State Department have called on the Azerbaijani government to immediately release Anar Mammadli and other arrested journalists and activists.

Over the past few months, criminal cases have been initiated against 17 activists and journalists, 15 of them are in custody.