In Azerbaijan, court rejects Zeinalov's appeals

Today, the Baku Appeal Court considered the appeal complaints against the decisions of the Nizami District Court on the case of the arrested editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Khural" Avaz Zeinalov. The verdict of the first instance was upheld.

Journalists were not admitted to consideration of the appeals.

As reported by Elchin Sadygov, Zeinalov's advocate, the appeal against the editor's freedom restriction measure - a three-month arrest - was considered by Judge Gail Mamedov.

According to Mr Sadygov, the consideration was formal, and "the judge disregarded the arguments of the defence about the absence of evidences of bribe extortion and of the fact of receipt of money, as well as the social status of Zeinalov as a newspaper editor-in-chief, and upheld the first instance verdict."

The appeal complaints against the conducted searches of Zeinalov's flat and car, and in the office of the newspaper "Khural", were considered by Judge Amir Bairamov.

The defence asked to recognize the searches as illegal, because no search warrants were presented at conducting them. Besides, the search witnesses were brought by inspectors. In the course of the searches, written documents and information on electronic carriers were confiscated.

However, the judge dismissed the complaints; the advocate expressed his disagreement with the judicial decisions and stated the political motives of Zeinalov's arrests.

Comments of the prosecution party were not available. The General Prosecutor's Office refused to comment on the situation with the journalist, referring to the official announcement of his arrest.

Meanwhile, the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed concern over the Zeinalov's harassment and imprisonment and urged the Azerbaijani authorities to release him immediately.