«Prisoner of Light» Not Released

On March 27, the Baku Court of Appeal rejected the complaint of the internally displaced person (IDP) Jalal Guliyev, who participated in the protest action in Bilasuvar. He argued about the illegality of the extension of his arrest term. The complaint of Jalal Guliyev was considered under the chairmanship of Judge Mirpasha Huseynov.

Lawyer Elchin Sadigov, who defends the rights of Jalal Guliyev and other arrested people with him, called their arrest groundless in his speech at the trial. The lawyer called illegal the extension of the term of arrest, since there are no grounds for this.

“According to the law, to prolong the period of pre-trial detention, one of four reasons must be present: if a person is hiding or if there is a danger that will prevent the truth from being revealed in the case, or a need to prevent the commission of a crime, or a need to protect public order. The Nasimi court did not consider the existence or absence of these justifications for the extension of the arrest,” said the lawyer and demanded the annulment of the district court's decision. However, the lawyer's request was not granted. A native of Jabrayil, a “prisoner of light” remained imprisoned. After the trial, Elchin Sadigov told Radio Azadlig that he considers the decision illegal.

“We will reach the Council of Europe,” said the lawyer, noting that the IDPs who were arrested along with Guliyev were left without defense.

“At the very beginning, I defended them all. Unfortunately, the prosecutor's office did not give me an opportunity to continue their defense. I could only defend the rights of Jalal Guliyev. Defense of Zaur Feyruzlu, Ulvi Guliyev and Ilkin Iskenderov was carried out by state lawyers. As far as I know, they also wanted to file a complaint about the extension of the arrest. However, these lawyers did not appeal to the court,” the lawyer said.

Elchin Sadigov is the lawyer of one of the five internally displaced people arrested in Bilasuvar, Jalal Guliyev. The Prosecutor General's Office did not allow him to defend more than one person about the same case.

On December 22 last year, IDPs from Jabrail, who settled in Bilasuvar, held a protest against the ceasing of the supply of electric light to the village where they live.

Following the action on December 23, the protesters Jalal Guliyev, Zaur Feyruzlu and Gulagha Almamedov were detained. They were accused of resisting government officials, creating riots and deliberately inflicting damage on other people's property.

On December 24, similar charges were brought against two more IDPs, Ulvi Guliyev and Ilkin Iskenderov. With respect to the detainees, a decision was made on their pre-trial arrest.  -0--