Court in Baku leaves oppositionist Mamed Ibragim in custody

Baku held a preparatory court session on the case of Mamed Ibragim, an activist of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA). His defence has petitioned on termination of the criminal case and on changing his freedom restriction measure.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Mamed Ibragim, an adviser to the Chairman of the PFPA, was detained on September 30. The reason for the detention was the complaint lodged Mikail Guliev, who claimed that Ibragim had beaten him up. Mamed Ibragim's colleagues assert that he is prosecuted for political reasons.

According to the advocate Yalchin Imanov, today the defence petitioned on termination of the criminal case "due to the absence in the event of the crime."

"The incident between Ibragim and Guliev, which was provoked by the latter, by its nature, could be classified as 'petty crime', which is an administrative offense," said the advocate. According to his version, the men's scuffle was quickly stopped; nobody was hurt.

On the other hand, as he noted, should the case be re-qualified from a criminal to an administrative offense – a "petty crime", the maximum penalty is 30 days of administrative arrest.

"Meanwhile Ibragim has been kept in custody for more than two months already. Therefore, I asked the court to stop the criminal case and release him," said Imanov.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.