Baku court refuses to cancel sentence of oppositionist Imanly

The Baku Court of Appeal upheld the verdict to Mukhammad Imanly, an activist of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), sentenced to imprisonment on the charge of spreading COVID-19. The defence will file a cassation appeal and has already addressed the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) with a complaint about the pre-trial arrest of Mukhammad Imanly, advocate Asabali Mustafaev said.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 16, 2020, Mukhammad Imanly was detained under the criminal article "Violation of the anti-epidemic, sanitary-hygienic and quarantine regime, entailing the spread of a disease or threatening it." On December 1, 2020, Mukhammad Imanly was sentenced to a year of imprisonment.

Today, the Baku Court of Appeal (BCA) has completed the consideration of the appeal against the verdict and dismissed the cassation appeal, Asabali Mustafaev, an advocate of Mukhammad Imanly, has informed the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"Mukhammad Imanly has repeated that at the moment of his detention, he did not suffer from the coronavirus infection and was not a carrier of COVID-19. On July 16 [2020], a local police inspector took him away from home. The charge was brought four days later, which is itself a gross violation of the Criminal Procedure Code and the European Convention on Human Rights," the advocate said.

Asabali Mustafaev has added that Mukhammad Imanly associates the criminal proceedings against him with his political activities. The defence will file a cassation appeal against the verdict. "Furthermore, we have already appealed to the ECtHR to challenge the pre-trial arrest of Mukhammad Imanly," Asabali Mustafaev adds.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 16, 2021 at 06:57 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.