Bakhtiyar Hajiyev's term of pre-trial detention extended for another 70 days

Baku/22.07.23/Turan: The Khatai District Court of Baku, based on the petition of the investigating authority, extended the period of pre-trial detention
public activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev for another 2 months 10 days - until October 8.

Rovshan Rahimli's lawyer told Turan that Hajiyev called the charges against him fabricated and politically motivated.
In this regard, Hajiyev considered it illegal to extend the term of his arrest.

The lawyer said that an appeal would be filed against the court's decision.

Rufat Safarov, executive director of the human rights organization Line of Defense, criticized the court's decision to extend Hajiyev's arrest.

“From the very beginning of the arrest of Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, we have been convinced that he was arrested for political reasons and that he is a hostage of the repressive administration and a victim of his public and human rights work,” Safarov told Turan.

He has already been in prison for 8 months and the courts very easily, without demanding reliable evidence and justifications, each time extend the terms of arrest, Safarov noted. "This is an indicator that the courts are an instrument of authoritarian rule - an appendage of the executive branch," Safarov said.   

**Bakhtiar Hajiyev was arrested on December 9 last year on charges of hooliganism and contempt of court. On the same day, the Khatai District Court sentenced him to 1 month and 20 days in prison.

On January 9, 2023, the Court of Appeal refused his release and he resumed his hunger strike. On January 21, the court extended the term of his arrest for a month, and on February 23 – for another two months - on April 28.

February 28 - on the 51st day of the hunger strike, Hajiyev stopped his hunger strike.

Representatives of the US State Department, the US Senate, the European Union, the Council of Europe and a number of international NGOs have repeatedly demanded Hajiyev's release from prison.

On June 16, he was charged with new charges of illegal entrepreneurship, legalization of proceeds from crime, falsification of documents and smuggling.

The new charges brought against Azerbaijani activist Bakhtiar Hajiyev are related to receiving grants from a European human rights organization, the Institute for Freedom and Security of Reporters said. The organization expressed fears that Hajiyev's case would become a precedent, after which a wave of persecution of other activists and human rights defenders on similar charges could begin. ---16B06---