Journalist’s complaint accepted for consideration in European Court of Human Rights

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The complaint of Yeni Musavat newspaper journalist Tofig Yagublu has finally reached the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), his lawyer Nemat Karimli told the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) on June 12. “We had posted the letter of complaint through Express postal service on May 7. But in the past twenty days we had not been informed about the status of the letter. On June 10 they called me from Express postal service saying that the letter and attached documents got lost in French customs, but yesterday they called me again saying the complaint reached the ECtHR and was accepted for consideration” said the lawyer.

Background: Tofig Yagublu was arrested on February 4th 2013, for allegedly attempting to undermine stability in Ismayilli region by calling on local people to resist the police and block the roads, during his visit to the region on January 24. He was eventually sentenced to two months of pretrial detention by Nasimi District Court on charges of “organizing public disorder” (Article 233 of the Criminal Code) and “resisting the representative of authorities or using violence against them” (Article 315 of the Criminal Code). Yagublu’s appeal against the decision was denied by the Baku Appeals Court on February 8. On April 27th one of the previous two charges filed against Yagublu, “organizing public disorder” (Article 233/Criminal Code), was replaced by the charge of “organizing or participating in mass disorders accompanied by violence, looting, arson, destruction of property, application of fire-arms or explosives, or armed resistance against representative of authority” (Article 220.1/Criminal Code).  Yagublu is currently held at Baku Investigative Prison.

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