On December 23 Baku Appellate Court heard the appeal filed by the head of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center (EMDSC) Anar Mammadli against December 16th decision of Nasimi district court sentencing him to 3-month pretrial detention.
The Appellate Court upheld the original ruling rejecting the appeal.
According to the Mammadli’s lawyer Elchin Sadigov, the court justified the decision by “the possibility of escaping the justice.”
The defense considers the reason unfounded and has already filed a motion with the court of the first instance for Mammadli’s release on bail.
Background: Anar Mammadli was detained on December 16. He is charged under three articles of the Criminal Code: 192.2.2 (implementation of business activity without registration with extraction of income in the large size), 213.1 (evasion of a physical person from payment of taxes or other obligatory payments in significant amount), and 308.2 (abuse of power in order to influence the outcome of the election (referendum)). On December 16 Nasimi district court sentenced him to 3 months in pretrial detention. Investigation of the case is conducted by the Department on Investigation of Serious Crimes under the Prosecutor General’s Office.