Court Leaves Ikram Rahimov in Custody

Baku / 01.11.18 / Turan: The Baku Court of Appeal today upheld the decision of the Sabail District Court to arrest the editor of the Realliq.info website Ikram Rahimov for two months. He is accused of extortion.

According to relatives, Rahimov stated in court that he had not committed a crime and the decision to arrest him was illegal. He repeated that his arrest was an order by the Presidential Aide Ali Hasanov.

"When I was arrested, the first questions were about Ali Hasanov, and they asked me why I wrote an open letter to Hasanov," the journalist said.

The judges interrupted Rahimov and demanded he speak on the merits. The court ultimately dismissed the complaint.

"Ikram said he was arrested for publishing on his website. Recently, he was warned for criticizing government officials several times. That's why he was arrested," said a representative of the Rahimov family.

On October 30, Rahimov met with the lawyer Elchin Sadigov in the State Security Service pretrial detention center. According to the lawyer, Rahimov did not complain about his treatment or conditions of detention. At the same time, he said he had not committed any criminal offense and had been arrested for his professional activities.

Earlier, the State Security Service stated that this department had investigated numerous complaints that Rahimov, under the guise of journalist, had extorted money from citizens, threatening them with spreading defamation in the media. As a result of operational activities carried out on the basis of a court decision, numerous criminal actions of Ikram Rahimov were confirmed, according to the State Security Service.

Rahimov was arrested and charged under articles 182.2.1 and 182.2.2 (extortion by threats).-06D--