Azerbaijan arrests activist Anar Abdulla in smuggling case

 A Baku court has ordered the pre-trial detention of Azerbaijani civil activist Anar Abdulla on smuggling charges, haqqin.az reported on Monday.

The Baku Grave Crimes Court, presided over by Judge Aygun Gurbanova, upheld the prosecutor’s request to replace police supervision with detention. The next hearing is scheduled for Sept. 22.

Abdulla is a co-defendant in a criminal case against Anar Mammadli, the jailed head of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre. On July 11, Abdulla was sentenced to 30 days of administrative detention by the Binagadi District Court.