Court leaves Azerbaijani activist Fuad Akhmedli in prison

The Court of Appeal dismissed a complaint filed by Fuad Akhmedli, an activist of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), about the refusal in conditional early relief (CER). Members of the PFPA treat the court's decision as a "political order."

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in July 2018, after the expiration of a third of the Fuad Akhmedli's term of imprisonment, the court refused to release him on CER. The father of the oppositionist reported the reason for the refusal was in the facts that, according to the administration of the penal colony, the activist did not take an active part in the life of the penitentiary institution, "did not communicate with anyone, and once inaccurately made his bed."

"I was placed to a punishment cell, because I, journalist Afghan Mukhtarly, and our party colleague Asif Yusifli were discussing the PFPA's statement that Mamed Ibragim, the adviser to the PFPA's leader, had been planted a knife in a penal colony ... I was not aware that the consideration of any problem could be considered as a disciplinary offense," Fuad Akhmedli said in court.

He noted that he did not believe in the unbiased attitude of the court, but he filed the complaint "in order to see his colleagues and associates."

Zafar Akhmedov, the father of the activist, noted that he did not expect any different decision, and the leader of the PFPA who observed the trial called the court's decision "an execution of a political order."