In Baku, Court of Appeals leaves editor-in-chief of newspaper "Tolyshi Sado" in custody

The Baku Court of Appeal (BCA) dismissed the appeal of Hilal Mamedov, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Tolyshi Sado", and decided to leave him in custody.

Today, the Court, chaired by Judge Vagif Mursagulov, considered the appeal, filed by Gilal (Hilal) Mamedov, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Tolyshi Sado" (Voice of Talysh) and Deputy Chairman of Talysh Cultural Centre.

The appeal was filed against the decision of the Nizami District Court of June 22 on pronouncing pre-trial restriction to Hilal Mamedov in the form of 3-month arrest.

Today, during the BCA's consideration of the appeal, filed by Hilal Mamedov, his lawyer Ramiz Mamedov claimed unreasonableness of pronouncing pre-trial restriction to Hilal Mamedov in the form of arrest and of his prosecution in general.

Meanwhile, the lawyer has noted that Hilal Mamedov is a person, well-known in the society, a scientist, and that there is no need to keep him in custody during the period of investigation. Besides, the defendant suffers from asthma, and his stay in the conditions of the SIZO (pre-trial prison) has a negative impact on the health of the editor-in-chief.

Judge Vagif Mursagulov did not take into account the arguments of the lawyers, and, after a brief consideration, he dismissed the appeal.

In his turn, a representative of the Ombudsman's press service reported that on August 13, staff members of the Ombudsman's office visit Hilal Mamedov at the Baku SIZO. According to the representative of the Ombudsman's press service, Hilal Mamedov did not complain about the conditions of detention; however, he expressed his dissatisfaction with the course of the investigation.