13:00, 2 January 2010

Azerbaijan: journalist Fatullaev gets 2-month arrest on new charge

As ruled late at night on December 31 by the Karadag District Court of Baku, the already imprisoned editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Real Azerbaijan" Einullah Fatullaev was awarded a 2-month arrest on a new charge - drug storage. Within the next few days the journalist will be transferred from his colony to the SIZO (pre-trial facility) in Kyurdakhany village.

His advocate Isakhan Ashurov has stated that the charge of drug storage was presented to Einullah Fatullaev with a number of serious law violations and will be appealed against in court. "Einullah was placed into a cold cell (dungeon) in addition to the obvious absurdity of the very charge of drug storage. All these actions will be appealed against in the judicial order," lawyer Ashurov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Mr Fatullaev has rejected the charge and refused to sign the protocol compiled by the investigation.

Author: Faik Medzhid

Source: CK correspondent