Agaali Eldar oglu Yahyaev - member of the Board of the Muslim Unity" Movement Date of arrest: 31 August 2023 Charge: Article 234.4.3 (Illegal manufacturing, purchase, storage, transportation, transfer or selling of narcotics, psychotropic substances committed in large amount) of the Criminal Code of the Azerbaijan Republic. On 1 September 2023, the Absheron District Court for Serious Crimes sentenced Agaali Yahyayev to 4 months' imprisonment in a pre-trial detention center. The period of detention in custody during the investigation has been subsequently extended several times Sentence: On 20 September 2024, the Sumqayit City Court for Serious Crimes issued a verdict: since the prosecution failed to provide any convincing evidence in the course of the trial, the Judge substituted the previous Article of the Prosecution with a new one, 234.1-1 (Illegal acquisition or storage of drugs or psychotropic substances without the purpose of sale in an amount exceeding the amount necessary for personal consumption, committed in a large amount) of the Criminal Code of the Azerbaijan Republic. And afterwards Agaali Yahyayev was sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment Judge: Elchin Mammadov Place of detention: Pre-trial Detention Center № 1 at the Kyurdakhani settlement in Baku City Sabunchu District Conclusion: 155 The well-known activist of the "Muslim Unity" Movement Agaali Yahyayev has been repeatedly subjected to repression and persecution for his activities by the law enforcement bodies. In 2017, he was sentenced in the so-called "Nardaran case" to 15 years of imprisonment, in March 2021 he was pardoned by the Head of State, in May 2022 he was detained for 30 days, but continued to be engaged in public activity. On 31 August 2023, he was detained by the officers of the Absheron District Police Department of the Azerbaijani Interior Ministry. At the same time, neither his relatives nor his lawyer Zubeyda Sadigova were assured by the officers of that police department that they had no such person in their custody. Two days later, his sister, Elnara, met her brother in the Pre-trial Detention Center No. 1 in Kyurdakhani settlement and told the media: "A man with the rank of colonel and other police officers first tried to persuade my brother to confess to possessing and selling drugs. When they realised that my brother wouldn't comply, they started torturing him. Having tied his hands, they started to hit him on the body with their fists and beat him on the leg with a truncheon. Aga-Ali's legs were swollen from those beatings. Despite the terrible tortures, Aga-Ali refused to plead guilty in the crime he hadn’t committed. Then the police threatened to rape him with a baseball bat, after which he was forced to admit a crime that he had not committed." During the meeting with his lawyer, Zubeyda Sadigova, Agaali Yahyaev showed her bruises on his shoulder and places of blows on his heels. In the course of the trial on 7 September 2023, the lawyer informed the Court of Appeal of all this, as well as the fact that Yahyaev's injuries had also been recorded when he was admitted to the pre-trial detention center. However, the Absheron District Court did not take into account the defendant's and his lawyer's testimonies regarding the torture in the police department and, despite the video and audio recording of the trial, dismissed the petition.