Baku court rejects appeal to release footballer held over journalist’s death

The court upheld the ruling of the Sabail district court to detain Huseynov for three months pending trial, the footballer’s lawyer Adam Mammadov said.

Huseynov is accused of failing to report the beating death of Rasim Aliyev, a journalist who worked for Azerbaijan New Network (ANN).

Aliyev died in hospital on Saturday after being beaten by several men he identified as relatives of the soccer player.

Police arrested five others, including a cousin of Huseynov, on charges of inflicting heavy bodily damages to the journalist.