Ikram Rahimov: �I was arrested by order of Ali Hasanov�

Baku/08.08.19/Turan: Ikram Rahimov, the editor of the realliq.info website, serving his prison sentence, sent an open letter to the media. He wrote that Ali Hasanov, the assistant to the President of Azerbaijan on socio-political issues, ordered his arrest.

Rahimov recalls that he was arrested on October 26, 2018 - on the day when he published the "Open Letter to Ali Hasanov".

"After the detention and delivery to the State Security Service, it became clear that the article I published in the morning caused great concern of the authorities and Ali Hasanov gave instructions about my arrest.

During interrogation, I did not give up my position and publications, after which they fabricated a criminal case against me, attracted false witnesses, and falsified my telephone conversations," Rahimov writes.

"My investigative journalism about the illegal activities of the presidential aide and the Press Council he takes care of is seriously bothering the opposite side. Therefore, without a court order, it was blocked on the site realliq.info and other seven domains registered in the name of Rahimov. Further, according to Hasanov"s instructions, the Press Council appealed to the leadership of law enforcement agencies for the arrest of Rahimov.

As for the negative facts, Rahimov said that he wrote about the theft of funds through pro-government journalistic NGOs. One million manat was allocated to the Organization of Journalistic Trade Unions and it is not known where these funds went. Various frauds took place during the distribution of apartments for journalists, which also happened to people of Ali Hasanov. According to Rahimov, the 6-month investigation did not provide reliable evidence of his guilt. Nevertheless, the judge of the Baku Serious Crimes Court Alovsat Abbasov passed an unjust sentence, the editor said. However, he intends to continue publishing from the jail.

* Rahimov was detained on October 26, 2018, charged with extortion by threats, and arrested by a court decision. Prior to his arrest Rahimov stated that he was being persecuted due to criticism of the Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan Ali Hasanov. On June 12, the court sentenced him to 5.5 years in prison. Meanwhile, on August 6, a preliminary hearing was held in the Baku Court of Appeal in the case of Rahimov. The lawyer Elchin Sadigov announced the falsification of the minutes of the court of first instance. "In the trial court there was a secretary named Elman. Subsequently, he was removed from work. He copied the testimonies of witnesses into the protocols, as was written in the indictment. Although in court all the victims stated that Rahimov did not extort money from them and did not threaten them," the lawyer said. The lawyer requested a second interrogation of witnesses, a second examination of the audio recording of Rahimov's telephone conversations in view of their falsification by editing. However, the applications were not granted and the next meeting was scheduled for 21 August. Rahimov said that he was starting a hunger strike of protest. -06D--