The Baku Court of Appeal on Thursday rejected the appeal against the extension of the detention of journalist Mushfig Jabbar, who was arrested in the ‘Toplum TV’ case.

As his lawyer Nazim Musayev told Turan, there are no material or procedural grounds for Jabbar’s detention. Jabbar has nothing to do with the charges of “foreign currency smuggling” brought against him, because the journalist had not left the country for 7 years before his arrest.

The lawyer said that no primary evidence of Jabbar’s guilt has been presented, and each time the investigation motivates the extension of the arrest by conducting an “expert examination” that is not be carried out.

Today, the Court of Appeal also rejected a complaint against the extension of the arrest of another person involved in the case, Ramin Babayev, an employee of the Institute of Democratic Initiatives. A day earlier, the complaints of Akif Gurbanov, speaker of the ‘Platform III of the Republic’, and Ilkin Amrakhov, an employee of the Institute of Democratic Initiatives, were not satisfied either.

The complaint of the founder of ‘Toplum TV’, Alesker Mammadli, was also not satisfied, despite serious health problems.

In the coming days, the appeals of two more defendants in this case will be considered – Ruslan Izzatli, a member of the ‘Platform III of the Republic’, and Ali Zeynalov, a ‘Toplum TV’ journalist.

*On March 6-8, 9 journalists and activists of ‘Toplum TV’ and its partner organization, the Institute for Democratic Initiatives, were detained. They were accused of smuggling foreign currency. Seven people were arrested, and two were placed under police supervision. The defendants in the case deny the charges. Human rights activists recognized those arrested as political prisoners. On December 27, the court extended their arrest until April 6.

On January 9, the Baku Court of Serious Crimes completed the trial of activist Rail Abbasov, accused of fraud.

In his last statement, Abbasov said that he was arrested on far-fetched and trumped-up charges for defending his friend, human rights defender Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, who was also unreasonably arrested. Abbasov cited numerous inconsistencies in his case as evidence of falsification of his case and asked the court to make a fair decision.

However, the court sentenced Abbasov to 6.5 years of imprisonment.

Earlier, the prosecutor requested that Abbasov be sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment.

*On September 20, 2023, the Nasimi Court of Baku arrested Abbasov for 4 months on charges under Article 178.3.2 (large-scale fraud) of the Criminal Code. Abbasov denies the accusation, considering his active participation in protecting the rights of activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, who was arrested back in December 2022, to be the true reason. Human rights activists recognized both as political prisoners.