Azerbaijani Court of Appeal upholds verdict to rights defender Vidadi Iskenderov

The Sheki Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the first instance court, which had sentenced the human rights activist Vidadi Iskenderov to 3 years of imprisonment.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 27, the Goychay District Court of Azerbaijan sentenced the human rights activist Vidadi Iskenderov, the head of NGO "Assistance to Defence of Democracy", to 3 years of imprisonment.

"On November 1, the court started consideration of the appeal on the merits. The court dismissed the defence's motion on photo and video recording and granted a request to withdraw Iskenderov out of an iron cage," the lawyer Yalchyn Imanov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

In his speech at the court session, Vidadi Iskenderov said that he was being kept in unbearable conditions in the Gyandja detention facility where detainees were forced to sleep on the concrete floor and severely suffered of deceases. He also blamed courts for formal consideration of the case and gave a challenge to the public prosecutor. However, Judge dismissed the motions and postponed the hearing till November 2.

Today, the defence moved a motion to change the pre-trial restriction from arrest to home arrest. However, Judge dismissed the motion.

Prosecutor Vidadi Jabbarov spoke in support of the indictment and requested the court to leave the verdict unchanged.

The lawyer Imanov claimed that, with regard to Iskenderov, a range of articles of the European Convention on Human Rights has been violated: "prohibition of torture", "right to a fair trial", "freedom of expression" and "prohibition of discrimination".

"Thus, Vidadi Iskenderov was kept in severe conditions and, despite the acute form of diabetes, he receive no qualified medical treatment. His trial was biased, and all defence's motions claiming that the investigators had violated due procedural rules were dismissed. Actually, he has been sentenced for his critic statements, and this is a violation of freedom of expression. Thus, Vidadi Iskenderov will undoubtedly win a lawsuit at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)," stated the lawyer Imanov and called the court to release the human rights activist.

Vidadi Iskenderov himself also denied the indictment and demanded his acquittal. He claimed that he had been arrested for political reasons, and namely, "for exposing frauds during the elections, fight for his rights and participation in the rallies demanding democratic reforms."

Then, he reported that a provocation was being prepared against him in custody and warned that the Azerbaijani authorities would be responsible for the consequences of damage to his health and life.

However, Judge paid no attention to his statements and, after an hour meeting, upheld the verdict of the first instance court.

The lawyer Imanov stated that he would file a complaint against this verdict to the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan.