Yesterday, 14 January, in the Baku Appellate court, under the chairmanship of judge Mirza Tagizade, a concluding hearing took place on the appeal regarding the confiscation and destruction of the manuscripts of a book imprisoned "Azadlig" Newspaper Editor-in-Chief Ganimat Zahid was writing. Ganimat’s lawyer Fariz Namazov told the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety that he filed several motions during the hearing. He demanded that Bayil Prison Head Misir Aliyev and other prisoners that were held in the same cell as Ganimat Zahid be brought to the hearing as witnesses. However, none of the motions was fulfilled.

In the end, the judge announced that the lawsuit was not fulfilled and Sabail District Court’s decision was upheld. According to lawyer Namazov, they will have received the decision within ten days and they will file a cassation complaint in the Supreme Court.
 
G. Zahid wrote a book about modern history of Azerbaijan when he was held in Bayil Prison. Bayil Prison Head Misir Aliyev took a handwritten 300 page-long manuscript from Zahid, claiming he wanted to read it. The manuscripts then were sent to the Penitentiary Services of the Justice Ministry. Later M. Aliyev stated that the manuscripts had pieces against Azerbaijani government, ex-president Heydar Aliyev and incumbent president Ilham Aliyev and therefore they have been destroyed.