Court refuses to commute sentence to Azerbaijani human rights defender Mamed

The Supreme Court of Azerbaijan did not grant the cassation appeal against the verdict to journalist and human rights defender Elchin Mamed, and the defence decided to seek his conditional early relief.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that Elchin Mamed was prosecuted after a woman from Sumgait claimed that after she had addressed him for legal assistance, she discovered the disappearance from her bag of the jewellery items worth 7500 manats (4500 US dollars). On October 16, 2020, Elchin Mamed was sentenced to four years of imprisonment on the charge of theft and illegal possession of weapons. He pleaded not guilty.

Today, the Supreme Court (SC) of Azerbaijan, chaired by Judge Aziz Seidov, considered the cassation appeal against the verdict to Elchin Mamed, dismissed it, and thus upheld the decisions of the previous court instances.

After the court hearing, an advocate of Elchin Mamed has told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent that the defence will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to restore the Elchin Mamed’s rights. Furthermore, the defence will continue to seek a mitigation of the sentence and release of Elchin Mamed, the defender has added. “In late July, one third of the Elchin Mamed’s sentence expires. According to the law, he has the right to appeal to court with a request for conditional early relief (CER),” the advocate explained.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 7, 2021 at 01:19 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.