Azerbaijani activist will be under arrest for longer than a year

A court in Baku extended the detention of social activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev in a pre-trial detention center for three months. Now the arrest period will be 13 months, which is unacceptable for pre-trial detention under the presented articles. The defense will appeal.

Bakhtiyar Gadzhiev was arrested at the end of 2022 on charges of hooliganism and contempt of court. Later, he was charged with new articles on illegal entrepreneurship, legalization of proceeds from crime, falsification of documents and smuggling. The charges brought are related to Hajiyev’s receipt of grants from a European human rights organization.

Representatives of the US State Department, the European Union, the Council of Europe and a number of international NGOs have repeatedly demanded the release of the activist.

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