The founder and editor-in-chief of the Heberman.com website, Polad Aslanov, went on a hunger strike on February 1.
P. Aslanov said this today at a meeting in the Baku Court of Appeal on his case chaired by Judge Hasan Ahmedov.
P. Aslanov protested against the delay in the consideration of his appeal and requires an objective examination. He also demands that he be placed under house arrest during the appeal period.
According to G. Aslanova, the judge began to assert that the complaint was received only on January 18.
“Yesterday at 11 pm Polad Aslanov learned that he was on trial today. He was completely unprepared for the trial. Despite our persuasion, he started a hunger strike today,” said G. Aslanova.
According to her, P. Aslanov said today in court that his arrest was connected with journalistic activities.
She noted that the lawyer and the prosecutor were also not notified in advance of the hearing.
However, the judge scheduled a hearing on the merits for February 4.
* On November 16, the founder of the website xeberman.com, Polad Aslanov, was found guilty of espionage for Iran by the court and sentenced to 16 years in prison. The state prosecutor asked to sentence him to 17 years.
Aslanov was arrested on June 12, 2019 and charged under Article 274 of the Criminal Code (treason). The investigation claims that Aslanov recruited fellow journalists and persuaded them to cooperate with the Iranian special services. Aslanov denied all charges, claiming that he was being prosecuted for exposing the facts of corruption on the part of intelligence officers. International organizations condemned his arrest, calling for the release of Aslanov.
Turan
