The court left two activists of the opposition Azerbaijani party in custody.

The Baku Court of Appeal upheld the administrative arrests of Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan activists Farid Guliyev and Valishan Hasanov. The arrest of another activist has also been appealed.

As reported by Caucasian Knot, Guliyev and Hasanov were previously arrested administratively. Both opposition figures had recently been driving party leader Ali Karimli in their cars. On November 12, under similar circumstances, Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan member Faig Nagiyev was sentenced to 30 days of administrative arrest.

On November 19, the Baku Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal against Hasanov's arrest, the PFPA press service told the Caucasian Knot correspondent.

"Despite the fact that only two days remained until Valishan Gasanov's arrest expired, the appellate court dismissed the appeal. Earlier, a few days ago, the appellate court upheld Farid Nagiyev's 30-day arrest. Both activists denied the administrative charges. Our activists have been periodically arrested on trumped-up charges before. But the difference in the Guliyev and Gasanov cases is that the protocol doesn't even formally state that they 'ignored the comments of police officers calling them to order.' In other words, there weren't even any formal witnesses from among the patrol police officers. The people were arrested solely on the basis of reports drawn up by district police inspectors," the party representative said.

Lawyer Fakhraddin Mekhtiyev said the appellate court failed to conduct an objective investigation. "The court failed to take into account the fact that Guliyev and Gasanov were not allowed to invite lawyers after their arrest. Furthermore, the activists indicated that they were detained at a location other than the one indicated in the arrest report. Meanwhile, there are city security cameras at the locations where both PFPA members were detained. We petitioned to obtain footage from these cameras to determine whether these individuals were actually detained there. "Unfortunately, the court denied the petition," Mehdiyev said.

He explained that since the appellate court is the highest court in administrative cases in Azerbaijan, the complaints against Guliyev and Hasanov's arrests will now be sent to the ECHR so that they can seek restoration of their rights and compensation in the future.

Mehdiyev also indicated that he would appeal Nagiyev's arrest.

An employee of the Baku Court of Appeals confirmed that the complaints against Guliyev and Hasanov's arrests were dismissed.