Defence finds violations in cases of three Azerbaijani activists

The court has dismissed the complaints against the arrests of Sarvan Djumaev, Babek Muradov and Yashar Kerimov, members of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA). The advocate and the PFPA have stated violations of the procedure and the detainees' rights to defence.

The activists were accused of violating the quarantine and arrested for 30 days each.

"According to the police, they left home without SMS passes, but these are false accusations," Tezekhan Miralamli, a source from the PFPA press service, asserts.

According to his story, the advocate Asabali Mustafaev was not allowed to visit his clients. Meantime, in his opinion, "somehow the detainees give their sincere confessions of guilt."

"Perhaps they are deceived by promising a release if they confess; or they are blackmailed with a criminal prosecution for the July 15 demonstration, and they agree so as not to go to jail for a long time," Mr Miralamli has suggested, adding that "they seek confessions from the detainees so that their cases don't go to the ECtHR (European Court of Human Rights)."

He has also stressed that the non-admission of the advocate to the SIZO (pre-trial prison) and the trial is a violation of the right to defence, enshrined in the Constitution of Azerbaijan and in the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).