Additional criminal charges have been levelled against Azadliq newspaper’s distribution director Faig Amirli in Baku Detention Centre #1 on 17 April, Amirli’s lawyer Fakhraddin Mehdiyev has reported.
According to the lawyer, the investigative agency charged Amirli under Articles 213.1 (tax evasion) and 308.2 (abuse of office) of the Criminal Code.
Faig Amirli rejected the charges and refused to testify.
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.