A criminal case against the head of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center (EMDS) Anar Mammadli has been referred to the Baku Grave Crimes Court.

The defense believes that the case brought against him is revenge for his human rights activities. Mammadli was accused of currency smuggling, as well as illegal entrepreneurship, legalization of illegally obtained property, tax evasion as part of an organized group, and document forgery.

“There is no evidence that Anar Mammadli committed any crime. They are trying to fabricate false evidence,” the lawyer noted.

Two years ago, Anar Mammadli was diagnosed with a herniated disc. Due to the lack of an orthopedic mattress, he suffers from severe pain. He also suffers from shortness of breath and asthma attacks.

Earlier, the Baku Court of Appeal rejected Anar Mammadli’s petition to transfer him from a pretrial detention center to house arrest. International organizations and the US State Department have called on the Azerbaijani government to release the activist and other jailed journalists and activists.

In 2014, Anar Mammadli was sentenced to five and a half years in prison on charges of tax evasion and illegal entrepreneurship. He was pardoned two years later.