The court placed Zabil Gakhramanov under arrest.

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An Azerbaijani court has arrested lawyer Zabil Gahramanov for three months on charges of hooliganism and fraud.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," lawyer Zabil Gahramanov, who defended representatives of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan, was detained on October 25 on charges of hooliganism. He denied his guilt. Shortly before this, the Bar Association suspended his lawyer status.

On the evening of October 25, the Ganja City Court ordered Zabil Gahramanov to be remanded in custody for three months, a relative of the lawyer living in Baku told a Caucasian Knot correspondent.

According to the relative, Gahramanov has been charged under Articles 221.2.2 (hooliganism committed with resistance to a government official or another person) and 178.2.4 (fraud committed with significant damage) of the Azerbaijani Criminal Code. He faces up to seven years in prison under these articles. "Of course, Zabil denies these charges. It is clear that he is being persecuted on trumped-up charges because he zealously defended the rights of innocent people and, in doing so, drew attention to the abuses of the security forces. "First, on October 8, his lawyer's license was suspended, and now he's been arrested on slanderous charges," said a relative of Gahramanov.

On October 8, a press release from the Presidium of the Bar Association stated that, by decision of the Presidium, two lawyers had been suspended for a certain period for disciplinary violations, four lawyers had been issued warnings, and one lawyer had been reprimanded. However, the names of the punished lawyers were not disclosed.

Gahramanov's lawyer, Saadat Seyidli, was unavailable for comment late in the evening of October 25. The duty officer at the Ganja Court confirmed that Judge Liza Khanmamedova had granted the investigative body's request for Gahramanov's arrest for three months. We were unable to obtain comment from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.