The Court of Appeal has left a member of the PFPA Elkhan Aliyev in custody

Baku/04.08.23/Turan: Today the Baku Court of Appeal (BCA) considered an appeal against the arrest of a member of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) Elkhan Aliyev, left him without satisfaction,  his lawyer Nemat Kerimli told.

"Despite Elkhan Aliyev is accused of fraud and falsification of documents, there are no signs of these crimes in his actions. The charge refers to the purchase and sale of a land plot. However, the transaction was not completed," the lawyer said.

If the documents for the land plot were even falsified, then Aliyev has nothing to do with it, because he was just an intermediary and could not know about the forgery, the defense believes.

Aliyev denies the accusation and believes that he is being persecuted for political reasons.

"Before his arrest, he distributed a video and reported a possible provocation against him. Today in court  he said that a provocation was committed against him and it is connected with his political activities," the lawyer noted.

Recently, Aliyev has often traveled to the districts on party business to prepare lists of PFPA members for re-registration of the organization. He was warned that this "activity" would have "consequences," the PFPA said. PFPA leader Ali Kerimli condemned the arrest of the activist.

"The accusation brought against Elkhan Aliyev is a vivid example of cruelty and ruthlessness. The arrest of Elkhan Aliyev is not only lawlessness and a political order, but also directly a crime. Because carrying out illegal surveillance of a citizen, drawing up a plan for his arrest on the basis of false evidence are criminally punishable acts," Kerimli said.

He believes that the authorities continue to put pressure on the PFPA to "eliminate the real opposition." "But such arrests cannot crush us. There have been many such arrests so far, but we are still standing firmly on our feet. Our struggle will continue," Kerimli said.

Elkhan Aliyev was detained on the afternoon of July 26 by employees of the Sabunchi district Police Department of Baku. The press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that two other people, Yusif Aliyev and Vafadar Akhundov, were also detained together with Aliyev, the ministry noted.

According to the version of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, all three are suspected of selling a land plot in the village of Nardaran using forged documents. The case is under three Articles - fraud with large-scale damage (Article 178.3.2), illegal production of a document conferring rights (Article 320.1) and intentional use of false documents (Article 320.2 of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan), - initiated at the request of a citizen who was the buyer of the plot.

Before his detention, Aliyev distributed a video in which he stated about a possible provocation against him. On July 27, the Sabunchy District Court chose a preventive measure against Aliyev in the form of arrest for a period of 3 months. ---06B---