Court denies CER for Azerbaijani oppositionist Akhmedli

The court has refused to apply the conditional early relief (CER) to Fuad Akhmedli, a member of the youth committee of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), said his father, promising to file a complaint against this refusal.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 16, 2017, Akhmedli was sentenced to four years in prison. His defence considered the verdict to be a political order and appealed against it. However, on August 16, 2017, the court of appeal upheld the verdict.

On July 19, 2018, the Surakhani District Court of Baku considered, at its visiting session in Colony No. 16, Fuad Akhmedli's appeal on mitigating the punishment and releasing him on the CER after serving one third of his prison term. Judge Elchin Agaev denied the appeal, Zafar Akhmedov, Fuad's father, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"The colony bosses opposed to Fuad's CER, accusing him of not taking active part in the life of the colony, communicating with no one, and once dressing up his bed inaccurately," said the father, noting that the court disregarded his son's health condition. "Shortly before his arrest, Fuad had a lung surgery; and there is no condition for proper treatment in the colony; there's no fresh air; they give him some medicines, but this does no good," Zafar Akhmedov has stated, adding that an appeal would be filed against the refusal of the court.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 20, 2018 at 07:35 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.