Fuad Ahmadli, the arrested chairman of Khatai district Youth Committee of the opposition party Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (APFP), cannot meet with his family or talk to them on the phone, Fuad Ahmadli’s lawyer Asabali Mustafayev has said. Fuad Ahmadli was detained on August 18. He is charged under Articles 302.1 (infringement of the legislation on operative-search activity) and 308.1 (abusing official powers) of the Criminal Code. According to the joint statement of the State Security Service and the Prosecutor General’s Office, Fuad Ahmadli, an operator at the Call Centre of Azerfon LLC, has channelled personal information of subscribers and phone tracking data to certain people. In addition, religious literature prohibited by law, CDs, speeches of Fetullah Gulen, and documents on persons called “Hizmet (Service) imams” and their mutual relations were allegedly seized from his apartment during search.
The lawyer said the ban on meetings and phone calls was illegal. “The ban on phone conversations and meetings may be imposed based on a court decision at the investigator’s request. I enquired about such a decision at the detention centre, but could not find one. There was not such a decision in the registration department or the clerical office. If there were a court decision, it should have been in these two departments. It means that it [the ban] is the instruction of the detention centre management, and so, it is unlawful,” the lawyer said.
Asabali Mustafayev said he would appeal to the court unless the ban was lifted.
The lawyer added that he had met with Fuad Ahmadli at the detention centre and that the youth activist still suffered from health problems.