BAKU, Dec 1 (Reuters) – A court in Azerbaijan on Monday ordered a key opposition figure to be held in pre-trial detention until mid-February following his arrest on charges of plotting to overthrow President Ilham Aliyev.

Ali Karimli, who has led the Azerbaijani Popular Front Party since 2000, rejected the charges against him as politically motivated, his lawyer told Reuters.

Azerbaijan’s State Security Service raided Karimli’s house on Saturday and later arrested him and two other APFP members. One of them, Mammad Ibrahim, was also placed in pre-trial detention until February 13.

A government source told Reuters over the weekend that the probe into Karimli was connected to an ongoing criminal case against Ramiz Mehdiyev, head of the presidential administration from 1994 to 2019.

The s

See Full Page