Eldar Gasanov denied release from custody

At a session of the Baku Court of Grave Crimes, Eldar Gasanov, a former Azerbaijan ambassador, asked to release him from SIZO (pre-trial prison) referring to deterioration of his health and need for treatment. The session was interrupted because Gasanov felt bad, but the court refused to change his freedom restraint measure, his advocate has informed.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 13, 2020, Eldar Gasanov, Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro, was detained on the charge of misuse of budget funds and abuse of power. Eldar Gasanov pleaded not guilty, and human rights defenders associated his prosecution with his political ambitions.

The preparatory session on his case ended on September 3 at the Baku Court of Grave Crimes.

Djavad Djavadov, his advocate, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that during the session, Gasanov felt bad; and the judge interrupted the session for 15 minutes and resumed it after some improvement of his condition.

Gasanov asked to change his freedom restriction measure and stop his criminal case. "Eldar has stated that there are no reliable proofs of his guilt. He asked to stop his criminal prosecution, (...) change the freedom restriction measure and release him from custody. He said that he had been operated on for seven times before his arrest; and in custody, he was not given any high-quality medical care; and his health condition worsened," Mr Djavadov has explained.

The court has rejected the motions and scheduled the hearing on the merits for September 9.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 3, 2021 at 08:17 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.