23:59, 31 July 2021

Baku court refuses to release activist Agil Magerramov before term

The court has refused to apply the conditional early relief (CER) to Agil Magerramov, a member of the Presidium of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA). His defence has treated the judgement as unfair and intends to appeal against it.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 27, 2019, the court found five PFPA activists guilty of money laundering. Agil Magerramov was among them; he was sentenced to four years in prison. In September 2019, the court dismissed the defence's motion in favour of three PFPA activists, including Agil Magerramov.

According to investigators, Salekh Rustamov, a Russian citizen, had monthly collected money from the Azerbaijani citizens doing business in Russia to support the PFPA. The total amount transferred through a Rustamov's nephew was USD 412,000. The advocates claimed that their clients had been tortured.

Agil Magerramov asked for a mitigation of his prison term, because he has served 2/3 of the term, and asked to replace the remaining term for the CER.

The court has rejected the appeal, citing the negative characterization of the activist received from the colony administration as an argument.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 31, 2021 at 10:41 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Source: CK correspondent