Elvin Isaev's advocate points to threat of his kidnapping

The blogger, Elvin Isaev, has been released from the Centre for Temporary Detention of Foreign Citizens in the Leningrad Region, but his relatives fear that Isaev may be kidnapped for further extradition to Azerbaijan, said Olga Tseitlina, a lawyer at the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

The "Caucasian Knot" has informed that this August the Dzerzhinsky District Court of Saint Petersburg decided to extradite Elvin Isaev, a city resident, who criticized the Azerbaijani authorities, to Azerbaijan. However, on September 10, the Saint Petersburg City Court sent the case for a new consideration.

Elvin Isaev has left the above Temporary Detention Centre located in the village of Kranoye Selo of the Leningrad Region, Ms Tseitlina has confirmed today.

According to her story, Isaev's relatives fear that he might be kidnapped. "Despite the court judgement, Isaev and his relatives fear that he might be handed over to Azerbaijani authorities unofficially, that is, kidnapped, because they are sure that his persecution continues," Olga Tseitlina is quoted in a post placed on the website of the HRC "Memorial".

Let us remind you that in May 2017, the Azerbaijani journalist Afghan Mukhtarly, who emigrated to Georgia in 2014, was kidnapped and forcibly taken to Baku. In January 2018, a court sentenced him to six years in prison on charges of illegal border crossing, smuggling, and resistance to a government official.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 11, 2019 at 06:22 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.