Baku: The court has issued decisions to extend preventive measures against former Head of the Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev, chairman of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (APFP) Ali Karimli, former Presidential Administration employee Eldar Amirov, and member of the APFP Presidium Mammad Ibrahim in a criminal case initiated by the State Security Service, APA reports.
According to Azeri-Press News Agency, the submissions filed by the investigative body regarding these individuals were reviewed today at the Sabail District Court. The court decided to extend the pre-trial detention measure imposed on Ali Karimli by five months. The detention period of Mammad Ibrahim, a member of the APFP Presidium who was arrested together with Karimli, was also extended by five months.
In addition, the court reviewed the motion submitted by the investigative body to extend the preventive measure imposed in the criminal case initiated against former Head of the Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev. The Sabail District Court extended the term of house arrest imposed on Mehdiyev by five months.
At the same time, the court decided to extend by five months the detention measure imposed on Eldar Amirov, former head of the Secretariat of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) and former employee of the Presidential Administration.
The State Security Service indicated that comprehensive measures carried out by the Service to prevent subversive and sabotage activities conducted by foreign intelligence agencies against Azerbaijan's security and national interests led to reasonable suspicions that Azerbaijani citizens Ramiz Anvar oghlu Mehdiyev, Abbas Aydin oghlu Abbasov, Ali Amirhuseyn oghlu Karimli and others had committed actions aimed at violently seizing power and forcibly changing the constitutional order of the state.
For their participation in criminal acts, Abbas Abbasov, Ali Karimli, Fuad Gahramanli, Mammad Ibrahim, and Ganimat Zahidov were charged under Article 278.1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Eldar Amirov was charged under Articles 32.5 and 278.1, and Ramiz Mehdiyev was charged under Articles 193-1.3.2, 274, and 278.1.
As Abbas Abbasov, Fuad Gahramanli, and Ganimat Zahidov are outside the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan and have been evading the investigation, they were declared wanted and a court ordered pre-trial detention in absentia against them. The investigation into the criminal case is ongoing.