Fatullaev's attempt to challenge the court rejected in Azerbaijan

Today, the Baku Court of Appeal (BCA), chaired by Judge Mirpasha Guseinov, continued consideration of the appeal complained lodged by the convicted journalist Fatullaev against the sentence of his imprisonment for 2.5 years on charges of drug storage. The next court session is scheduled for January 25.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports that at the beginning of the session Fatullaev said that he had not received an official written notification about today's trial, which is a breach of procedural norms.

Besides, the journalist moved a challenge to the membership of the court, because at the preparatory session, the judge chose, "by backdating", the arrest as his freedom restriction measure. According to Fatullaev, it was done with the aim to keep him in custody in view of the upcoming enforcement of the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) about his release from the verdict of 2007.

According to Fatullaev, in this way "the court fulfilled the political order of the authorities."

The court retired for deliberation, and in 20 minutes returned and rejected the journalist's challenge.

The court also failed to express any attitude to the petition of Elchin Sadygov, the journalist's advocate, who wanted his client to sit not in the cage but next to him.

Then Mr Sadygov announced that another journalist's advocate - Anar Gasymov - will enter the case; the latter said, in his turn, that he needs time to get acquainted with the materials of the case.

In this context, the hearings were postponed till January 25.