Court of Appeal Upholds Decision on PFPA Activist Elvin Abdullayev

Baku Court of Appeal (BCA) on Thursday rejected the complaint of the youth activist of the Popular Front of Azerbaijan Party (PFPA) Elvin Abdullayev, sentenced to six years in prison on charges of drug trafficking.

The lawyer Ali Mehdiyev told the court that Abdullayev was persecuted on trumped-up charges and the real reason for his arrest is criticism of activist authorities.

The lawyer also pointed out that after the arrest Abdullayev was in the Baku police for 8 hours before he was searched. During this time he had an opportunity to eat, go to the toilet, and even shoot the handcuffs on his hands with his phone and put it to Facebook. "If Elvin was able to do all this, it means that if he had had drugs in his pocket, he could have thrown them away somewhere," said the lawyer.

The defense will submit an appeal to the Supreme Court.

Abdullayev is recognized political prisoner by local and international organizations.

Abdullaev is a student of the Azerbaijan State Pedagogical University. After criticism of the authorities among the students, he was called by Vice Rector and warned against that. On January 8, 2015 after passing the exam, Abdulllaev was detained and allegedly seized heroin in the amount of 3 g. Abdullayev was charged under Article 234.4.3 (drug trafficking on a large scale). On June 1 the Baku Court of Grave Crimes sentenced Abdullayev to 6 years in prison. -06D--