The Court of Appeal has left activist Ramil Babayev under arrest

On April 1, the Baku Court of Appeal rejected a complaint against the refusal to transfer Ramil Babayev, an activist arrested in the “Toplum TV” case, to house arrest. The Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the Khatai Court of Baku on March 19, rejecting the request to change the preventive measure, lawyer Aisha Abdel Gadir told .

Earlier, the lawyer appealed to the prosecutor’s office to bring to justice the police officers who used violence when delivering Babayev to court.

Two weeks ago, the lawyer also appealed to the Ombudswoman in connection with Babayev’s illegal arrest and violation of his rights to education and health protection. Due to his arrest, Babayev was forced to interrupt his doctoral studies at the Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences. In addition, Babayev is prone to periodic seizures and needs urgent medical intervention, which is impossible in conditions of detention in a pre-trial detention center.

However, the lawyer did not receive any answers from the Ombudsman’s office or the prosecutor’s office, and no action was taken by these bodies either.

* Recall that on March 6-8, 9 employees of “Toplum TV” and its partner organization, the Institute of Democratic Initiatives, were detained. They are charged with smuggling foreign currency. Seven people were subjected to pre-trial detention for a period of 4 months, two more were transferred to police supervision.