The Supreme Court did not release the activist deported from Germany

Baku/10.01.24/Turan: On January 9, the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan rejected the cassation appeal of activist Jafar Mirzoyev, convicted in a drug case after returning from Germany.

Mirzoyev was detained on January 27, 2022, two months after his expulsion from Germany. The next day, the court decided to arrest Mirzoyev on charges of drug trafficking. On January 16, 2023, the court sentenced him to 6 years in prison. Subsequently, the Court of Appeal reduced the sentence to 5 years.

Consideration of Mirzoyev's cassation appeal against the decision of the Appellate instance took place on Tuesday without the participation of the activist himself and his lawyer Neimat Kerimli, human rights defender Zafar Ahmedov, a member of the human rights organization Line of Defense, told Turan.

"The cassation appeal was filed by lawyer Neymat Kerimli. Due to the absence of a lawyer in Baku, he was unable to take part in the trial. If the complaint was filed by the convict himself, then it can be considered without a lawyer.  However, the judicial staff, in the absence of the convict and his lawyer, considered the appeal and did not satisfy him. The process lasted only 4 minutes," Ahmedov said.

Human rights activists recognized Mirzoyev as a political prisoner along with other activists arrested after being expelled from Germany, these are Mutallim Orujev, Malik Rzayev, Punhan Kerimli, and Samir Ashurov. All of them in Germany were participants in protests against human rights violations in Azerbaijan. –06B-