Baku hosts rally in defence of rights of editor of "Tolyshi Sado"

Today, the capital of Azerbaijan has held a protest action demanding to stop prosecuting Hilal Mamedov, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Tolyshi Sado". The action took place in front of the Baku Court of Grave Crimes, where Mamedov's trial continued today.

The action was the fourth protest actions in defence of Mamedov held within the last month. It was organized by the committee in defence of Hilal Mamedov's rights and was attended by about 40 people.

The action lasted about 20 minutes and passed without police intervention. Mekhtibek Safarov, a member of the committee, said that the protest action would continue until Mamedov's release.

A specificity of the today's action was the fact that it was monitored by representatives of international human rights organizations. The protesters were contacted with by Alexandra Kulaeva, a representative of the International Federation for Eastern Europe and Central Asia; Pyotr Krasnov, an employee of the HRC "Memorial"; and Aida Baizhunakova, an activist of the Kyrgyz Centre "Citizens against Corruption".

"We believe that the allegations are far-fetched; and the case was customized," said Alexandra Kulaeva. According to her story, all the roofs are based on the evidence of one person who himself had been imprisoned.