23:50, 2 July 2022

Court in Baku refuses to apply CER to rights defender Elchin Mamed

Elchin Mamed. Photo: https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/ru/case/case-history-elchin-mammad

A court in Baku has refused to apply the conditional early relief (CER) to Elchin Mamed, a human rights defender and journalist parole, who has served half of his sentence. His defence announced lodging an appeal, and Elchin's mother said that he continued his hunger strike demanding his release.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Rakhilya Mamedova, Elchin's mother, asked the President of Azerbaijan to pardon her son. On June 27, Mamed went on a hunger strike again in anticipation of the consideration of his applications for the CER. Azerbaijani human rights defenders have supported the demand to release Mamed.

Elchin Mamed was prosecuted after a woman from Sumgait claimed that after she turned to him for legal advice, she discovered the disappearance of her jewellery worth 7500 manats (USD 4500). On October 16, 2020, Mamed was sentenced to four years in prison on charges of theft and illegal possession of weapons. He refused to plead guilty.

Rakhilya Mamedova has stated that she had already lost faith in turning to any authorities.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 2, 2022 at 11:50 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Faik Medjid

Source: СK correspondent