Arrested journalist appeals to prosecutor general and ombudsman

Baku / 05.06.20 / Turan: The founder and editor of the sites Xeberman.com and Press-az.com, under investigation, Polad Aslanov, turned to the prosecutor general and ombudsman of Azerbaijan - Kamran Aliyev and Sabina Aliyeva. He tells about violations of his rights during the investigation. In particular, Aslanov indicates that he was detained on June 12, 2019 with his family at the Bilasuvar border checkpoint on the way to Nakhchivan.

The State Security Service did not explain the reason for the detention. With lawyer Elchin Sadigov, they gave him a meeting only on June 14, an hour before the trial, which arrested him.

On the night before, Aslanov was forced to confess before the video camera, threatening to harm his young child, wife and mother. According to Aslanov, the only "evidence" against him is precisely this "confession."

Aslanov believes that for 11 months is unreasonably contained in the SSC jail. During this time, he appealed to various government agencies. The investigation into his complaint about unlawful actions of the investigation was closed with the former Prosecutor General Zakir Garalov and his deputy Rustam Usubov. Aslanov writes that he insisted on the investigation by the prosecutor's office, since the State Security Service is an interested party in this matter.

Aslanov believes that Faig Ganiev, who is considering his case in the court for serious crimes, is also biased, since he worked for many years in the Investigative Department of the Ministry of National Security. For 10 sessions, the court did not satisfy any of the 30 applications of the defense. The trial in the case of Aslanov  was interrupted due to the quarantine regime and will be resumed on June 8. In this regard, Aslanov asks the Prosecutor General and the Ombudsman to facilitate an objective review of the case and a fair decision.

* Polad Aslanov was detained on June 12, 2019 and arrested for 4 months on charges under the Article 274 (treason) of the Criminal Code. The investigation is conducted by the State Security Service. On October 5, the arrest period was extended for another 4 months.

In December, another charge was brought against him - under Article 134 (threat to kill or cause serious bodily harm) of the Criminal Code. However, on February 10, Dayanat Babayev, recognized as a victim under this article, refused the complaint.-06B-