22:29, 19 July 2013

Baku CoA leaves three young activists, sentenced to 15 days in jail, behind bars

On July 19, the Baku Court of Appeal (CoA) has separately considered the complaints of youth activists Ulvi Gasanli, Majid Mardjanly and Kenan Gasymly, who are kept under administrative arrest. Young people asked the court to declare the illegality of their arrest and release them from detention. The complaints of the three activists were dismissed.

A lawyer Rustam Zulfugarov has defended the young people's rights at the CoA. The young activists had been sentenced to administrative arrest "on completely no grounds," he told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"They were charged with disobeying the police. But what the disobeying specifically was – it's not specified in the police protocol or the court decision. Only Ulvi Gasanli was detained by the police; others were summoned and voluntarily appeared there. How, then, could they disobey the police?" asked the lawyer.

According to Zulfugarov, since the administrative law does not provide for the right of a cassation complaint to the Supreme Court, in the long term young people can apply to the ECtHR to restore their rights and claim compensations.

Author: Faik Medzhid

Source: CK correspondent