Journalist Ikram Ragimov tortured at Sumgayit Police, his advocate claims

An advocate of journalist Ikram Ragimov, sentenced on the charge of defamation, has reported on sending a complaint about torture of his client to the General Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan.

On November 25, the Sumgayit City Court sentenced Ikram Ragimov, the editor-in-chief of the information portal "realliq.info", to one year of imprisonment.

According to the advocate Elchin Sadygov, the criminal proceedings were focused on the Ikram Ragimov's article, published on May 25 on the website of the Baku newspaper "Hurriyet" (Freedom).

The article talked about tax evasion committed by network of shopping centres "Udjuz Market" (Cheap Market). Besides, the article argued that the network "Udjuz Market" was closed by Zakir Faradjev, the head of the Sumgayit executive power, after he took over the city in the past year. However, according to the author of the article, the shops were reopened after the owner of the network "Udjuz Market" had bribed Zakir Faradjev.

"On November 25, Ikram Ragimov was taken into custody at the courtroom. However, he was taken not to SIZO (pre-trial prison), but to the Sumgayit City Police Department, where he was illegally kept for three days and tortured," reported the advocate.

"According to Ikram Ragimov, they demanded from him to apologize to Sumgayit Mayor Zakir Faradjev. When he refused, they put on his head a plastic bag and kept it as long as he began to suffocate. Then they again demanded from him to make an apology, and the whole process was recorded on video," said Elchin Sadygov.

According to the advocate, on November 30, he filed a complaint about torture of Ikram Ragimov to the General Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.