The Court of Appeal has left trade union activist A.Mammadov in custody

Baku/30.09.23/Turan: On September 29, the Baku Court of Appeal (BCA) considered a complaint against the arrest of the head of the independent confederation of trade Unions "Working Platform" Afiyaddin Mammadov. Mammadov was detained on September 20 near his home, after he was attacked by a stranger. However, Mammadov was also accused of stabbing him.  On the evening of November 21, the Khatai District Court chose a preventive measure against him.

Mammadov has been charged under  the Article 221.3 (hooliganism committed with the use of a weapon or an object used as a weapon) and 126.1 (intentional infliction of serious harm to health) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan, under which he faces up to 8 years in prison. On September 29 at the Baku Court of Appeal Mammadov said that he had not committed the crime he was charged with. In fact, he suffered himself. The recognized victim hit him so hard in the face that the young man bled from his nose for two days in the Kurdakhan pre-trial detention center.

Mammadov denied the accusation and said that he was being persecuted because of trade union activities and he had already been subjected to administrative arrest three times before.

Lawyer Zibeyda Sadygova, for her part, noted that there are no grounds for keeping Mammadov in custody, since the investigation did not provide reliable primary evidence of the activist's guilt.

"In addition, the investigation can be conducted without Afiyaddin Mammadov's detention. He has no intention of hiding from the investigation," the lawyer noted.

However, she continued, the investigator of the Khatai district police department considered that Mammadov "could escape while remaining at large" and the court dismissed the complaint.---06B---