The court refused to transfer the disabled activist to house arrest

Baku/19.12.23/Turan: On December 19, a preparatory meeting was held in the Baku Serious Crimes Court, chaired by Fakhri Mammadov, in the case of trade union activist Ayhan Israfilov, who was arrested in a drug case. Lawyer Fariz Namazli petitioned to change the preventive measure to house arrest.

"The witnesses in the case are police officers and suggestions that Aykhan Israfilov may put pressure on them are unfounded," said another lawyer, Parviz Hajiyev. He also pointed out that Israfilov had not been convicted before and the drug examination did not reveal his drug addiction. Finally, Israfilov is a disabled person of the third group and he has a disabled mother of the first group in his care.

If this request is not satisfied, the lawyer asked the court to make a decision to transfer him from the  pre-trial detention center-3 in the village of Shuvelan to the Baku pre-trial detention center-1.

The state prosecutor opposed the change in the preventive measure, and the prosecutor left the issue of changing the pre-trial detention center to the discretion of the court. After a short meeting, the court dismissed both petitions and scheduled a hearing on the merits for 14:15 on December 26.

The activist's sister Sevinj Israfilova told Turan about the activist's complaints regarding the conditions of detention in the Shuvelan pre-trial detention center. He is being held in a cell with 18 other prisoners, although the room is designed for 10 people. Therefore, the prisoners take turns sleeping.

She noted that  her brother’s arrest created big problems for their family. "My mother is a disabled person of the first group. Ayhan looked after his mother and officially received an allowance for this. The biggest problem is the moral suffering of the mother. My brother doesn't even smoke, and he's accused of using drugs. Although the examination did not reveal this. The investigation claims that 8 grams of heroin were allegedly found in his possession," S.Israfilova said.

* Akhan Israfilov, a member of the Board of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions, was arrested in August. This year, he was charged under Article 234.1-1 of the Criminal Code (possession and distribution of drugs).  Israfilov categorically rejects the accusation and links the arrest to his public activities, which was expressed in the protection of the rights of employees of the courier service. -0-