Azadliq newspaper’s distribution director Faig Amirli, who has been held in pre-trial detention since August 2016 is unable to consume food. Amirli’s stomach ulcer, which he has been suffering from for a while, has worsened after he was arrested, his lawyer Fakhraddin Mehdiyev said on 23 January.
After his meeting with Amirli in Baku Detention Centre, the lawyer said his client had been unable to eat for two days. “I met with the leadership of the detention centre to talk about this. It is a serious issue, we will also inform the international organisations. We will appeal to the court to change the measure of pre-trial detention in respect of Faig Amirli,” Mehdiyev noted.
Background: Faig Amirli was arrested on 20 August 2016. On 22 August, Nasimi District Court ordered his pre-trial detention for three months. On 11 November, the court prolonged the detention period for two months.
Amirli is charged under Articles 283-2 (Instigation of ethnic, racial and religious hostility) and 168.1 (violating public order or harming the health of citizens) of the Criminal Code. The indictment has portrayed him as an imam affiliated to Fetullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric who is accused of sponsoring the failed coup attempt in Turkey on 15 July 2016.