Today, 24 November, in the Yasamal District Court, under the chairmanship of Judge Sardar Mehraliyev, a hearing was conducted on Isakhan Ashurov's (lawyer of imprisoned journalist Eynulla Fatullayev) lawsuit against Minister of Foreign Affairs Eldar Mammadyarov.
Ashurov told this to the Institute of Reporters’ Freedom and Safety.
According to Ashurov, the hearing was concluded and the lawsuit was rejected. “I don’t know what has been written in the decision. It should be given to me within 10 days,” said Ashurov adding that he will make a decision whether to appeal to higher court instances or not.
A criminal case was instituted against “Gundalik Azerbayjan” and “Realniy Azerbayjan” newspapers' editor-in-chief Eynulla Fatullayev on the basis of an appeal that Mammadyarov made to the National Security Ministry. Mammadyarov stated that foreign citizens and business people were concerned about Fatullayev's article "The Aliyevs are Going to War" and appealed to him regarding this matter. Therefore, Ashurov, on behalf of Fatullayev, sent an information inquiry to Mammadyarov to reveal the names of people who he claimed were concerned. This inquiry was never responded to, and therefore Ashurov appealed to court.