Supreme Court to consider mitigation of human rights activist's sentence

Baku/10.06.22/Turan: The Supreme Court will consider the appeal of journalist and human rights activist Elchin Mamed on July 13. He's appealing the denial of parole at the expiration of 1/3 of the sentence. This was reported to Turan by the NGO  "Legal Enlightenment of Sumgait Youth" which is headed by Mamed.

Earlier, the Surakhany district court refused to commute the sentence on the basis of the characteristics from the colony number 16. The colony administration stated that Mamed "has not reformed" and "has not repented of his crime".

At the same time, the Court of Appeal did not grant Mamed's request to view the colony's video surveillance cameras in order to check his behavior and to interview his cellmates.

In his cassation appeal Mamed refers to the Supreme Court Plenum's decision of October 8, 2010 that courts should not be satisfied with the facts presented only by penitentiary institutions when considering appeals for commutation of sentences.

The human rights defender attached to his appeal the petitions of international organizations about the unjustified prosecution of him.

* On October 17, 2020. The Sumgayit city court sentenced the head of the NGO "Legal Enlightenment of Sumgayit Youth" and editor of the website "Yukselish Namine" Elchin Mamed to 4 years of imprisonment finding him guilty of "theft" and "illegal possession of ammunition and weapons".

International organizations Amnesty International, PEN, FİACAT and others condemned Mammad's arrest. Local human rights activists declared him a political prisoner.-05B06-