On 13 December, well-known singer Fadaya Lachin’s petition requesting house arrest was rejected by the Nasimi District Court in Baku. Lachin was
arrested
on 30 October on charges of assisting two prisoners in their escape from custody.
After the hearing, which reporters were not allowed to attend, defense lawyer Turkel Suleymanli said that Lachin would appeal the court’s ruling. They had petitioned the court for house arrest on the grounds of Lachin’s health problems.
“[Fadaya Lachin] suffers from hepatitis C,” said her lawyer, Suleymanli. “Staying in a confined space has a bad impact on her health and it’s inhumane to hold her in custody. We will appeal the ruling. If our appeal is rejected, we will request that she be transferred to a hospital.”
On 23 October, Etibar Mammadov (b. 1980) and Ali Aghami (b. 1989) escaped from a train while they were being escorted from Lankaran to Baku by police. The two men were on trial for murder in Lankaran, where they each faced 19 years in prison.
Lachin, who was reportedly dating Mammadov, denies that she was complicit in the prisoners’ escape. “They abused my trust,” the singer
told the court
. “I didn’t know that they intended to escape. I didn’t know anything about it.”
Mammadov, nicknamed
Goja
or “Old Man,” already had a string of convictions. He was killed by the police on 1 November as he resisted arrest. Aghami was arrested a few days after his escape in the city of Shirvan.
