On 3 March, Nasimi District Court examined the petition filed by the prosecutor’s office seeking the extension of the pre-trial detention term of the assistant to the chairman of Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (APFP), distribution director of Azadliq newspaper Faig Amirli. The hearing was presided over by Judge Shalala Hasanova.
The court prolonged Amirli’s pre-trial detention and investigation period for three months.
Background: Faig Amirli was arrested on 20 August 2016. He is charged under Articles 168.1 (violating citizens’ rights under the pretext of performing religious rites) and 283-2 (instigation of ethnic, racial and religious hostility) of the Criminal Code. The indictment bill refers to him as an imam of the Hizmet movement linked to Fetullah Gulen, a US-based Muslim cleric who is accused of masterminding the failed coup attempt in Turkey on 15 July 2016.