Niyaməddin Əhmədov
Niyameddin Ahmedov, the bodyguard of the leader of the Popular Front Party (PFPA) Ali Kerimli, has been charged with new charges. As the lawyer Zibeyda Sadigova told Turan, he is charged under Art. 233-1.1.2 (Illegal manufacture, acquisition, storage, transportation, carrying and transfer or sale to another person of items excluded from civil circulation) and 281.2 (Public appeals directed against the state, committed repeatedly or by a group of persons) of the Criminal Code.
Under each of these articles, Ahmedov could face up to 8 years in prison. Previously, he was charged under Art. 214-1 (financing of terrorism), under which he faces up to 14 years in prison. The investigation is being conducted by the Investigation Department of the General Prosecutor’s Office.
The lawyer noted that over the past 8 months after his arrest, Akhmedov was not allowed to communicate with family members by phone. The defense filed a complaint with the Sabunchu District Court, which refused to accept it. The appeal to the Court of Appeal was also in vain.
In turn, the PFPA said that N. Ahmedov rejects the new accusations, as well as the previous ones, considering them unfounded and absurd.
“They want to take revenge on Ahmedov, PFPA and its chairman Ali Kerimli with such methods. At the 2019 National Council rally, Niyameddin Ahmedov was with Ali Kerimli from the very beginning until his arrest. That is why they take revenge on him. The policy of repression and revenge against the Popular Front Party and Ali Kerimli has been going on for many years,” the Popular Front Party said.
Ahmedov’s father, Arif Ahmedov, met with him on January 19 for the first time after his arrest. “The meeting lasted half an hour. He said that Niyameddin had declared his innocence and everything that was written in the charge was a lie. We know that at the beginning of this case he was severely tortured, and they tried to extract confessions to what he did not commit. They fabricated criminal cases,” said his father.
Recall that on April 16, 2020, the Khatai District Court arrested Ahmedov for 30 days for violating quarantine and disobeying the police. On April 28, he was taken from the detention center of the administratively arrested of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to an unknown place, where he was severely tortured. He was demanded to testify against Ali Kerimli, but he did not give up. Therefore, on May 16, he was charged under Article 214-1 (financing of terrorism) of the Criminal Code and was arrested again. Human rights activists recognize Niyameddin Ahmedov as a political prisoner.
Turan
