17:05, 13 July 2022

Azerbaijani SC refuses early release of journalist Elchin Mamed

Elchin Mamed. Screenshot of the video https://d9mc3ts4czbpr.cloudfront.net/az/

A complaint filed by Azerbaijani human rights defender and journalist Elchin Mamed about the denial of conditional early relief (CER) for him was left ungranted.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on May 3, Elchin Mamed went on a hunger strike demanding his release. His mother Rakhil Mamedova asked the President of Azerbaijan to pardon her son. After the request of human rights defenders for his pardon on May 10, Elchin Mamed stopped his hunger strike in a penal colony. On June 27, in anticipation of the consideration of his applications for CER in the courts, Elchin Mamed again went on a hunger strike. However, on July 7, he stopped it because of a sharp deterioration in his condition.

Elchin Mamed was prosecuted after a woman from Sumgait claimed that she discovered her jewelleries worth 7500 manats (4500 US dollars) were missing after she sought legal advice from him. On October 16, 2020, Elchin Mamed was sentenced to four years of imprisonment in a penal colony on the charges of theft and illegal possession of weapons.

Today, the Supreme Court (SC) of Azerbaijan has considered the Elchin Mamed’s complaint. “Unfortunately, the trial was of formal nature, and it lasted several minutes ... Moreover, the court did not even substantiate its decision,” said Elchin Gasanzade, the deputy chair of the “Legal Education of Sumgait Youth” NGO.

According to him, Elchin Mamed did not believe in the unbiased attitude of the court and refused to participate in the trial.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 13, 2022 at 01:34 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.