Court remands independent election expert in custody

Mammad Alpay: “My arrest is directly related to my activities in the field of elections and human rights”

The executive director of the “Election Observation” Alliance, Mammad Alpay, has not been released from house arrest.

This was reported by his relatives.

It was reported that on May 16, the Binagadi District Court considered a petition to replace the preventive measure chosen for election specialist Mammad Alpay with house arrest.

The court did not grant the petition. An appeal has already been filed against the decision.

Mammad Alpay stated in his speech at the court that his arrest is directly related to his activities in the field of elections and human rights.

The executive director of the “Election Observation” Alliance, Mammad Alpay, was detained on March 14. On the same day, Bashir Suleymanli, head of the Civil Rights Institute, Hafiz Hasanov, head of the “Law and Development” Public Union, and Khalid Agaliyev, coordinator of the “Media Rights” Institute, were also detained. Their apartments were searched. Khalid Agaliyev was later released.

On the same day, Mammad Alpay and Bashir Suleymanli were sentenced to 3 months and 28 days of pre-trial detention by the Binagadi District Court.

On March 17, Hafiz Hasanov, the head of the “Law and Development” Public Union, was sentenced to 4 months of house arrest.

On April 9, Asaf Ahmadov, the head of the Ganja Regional Community Center, and Zamin Zaki, a social worker, were also sentenced to 3 months and 4 days of pre-trial detention in this case.

They are all charged under Articles 193-1.3.2 (legalization of a large amount of property obtained by criminal means), 308.2 (abuse of official authority, leading to grave consequences) and 313 (forgery of official authority) of the Criminal Code.

In this case, the head of the Social Rights Center, Subhan Hasanli, and public activist Aytaj Agazade were arrested in absentia and placed under investigation because they were not in the country.

Several NGO leaders and members involved in the case were placed under police custody during the investigation period.