15:48, 21 April 2022

Activists urge UN Human Rights Committee to help releasing Elchin Mamed

Elchin Mamed. Screenshot http://www.massa.az/news/az/16292/pravozaschitnik-pomeschen-v-bolnicu-dlya-zaklyuchyonnyh

The Public Association (PA) "Legal Enlightenment of Sumgait Youth" has sent an appeal to the UN Committee on Human Rights urging to help in releasing Elchin Mamed, an Azerbaijani human rights defender, from prison.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 8, 2021, the court refused to satisfy Mamed's request to replace the remaining term of his imprisonment for conditional custody or transfer him to a colony-settlement since he had served one third of his sentence. Then, Mamed treated the refusal as customized.

Elchin Mamed was prosecuted after a Sumgait woman had claimed that, after she turned to him for legal aid, she discovered that the jewellery worth 7500 manats (USD 4500) disappeared from her bag. In October 2020, Mamed was sentenced to four years on charges of committing a theft and illegal possession of weapons.

The authors of the above appeal assert that the real reason for Mamed's arrest was in his reports on the human rights situation in Azerbaijan, as well as in his criticism of the authorities in social networks and exposure of corruption.

The above PA has urged the UN Human Rights Committee to seek Mamed's CER (conditional early relief) prior a decision is made on the illegality of his arrest.

Let us remind you that Elchin Mamed is on the list of 126 political prisoners released in February by the Union "For Freedom of Azerbaijani Political Prisoners".

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 21, 2022 at 07:49 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Source: Caucasian Knot