Baku City Court on Grave Crimes sentenced Emin Sagiyev to 7 years in prison
The analysis of violation of the law during Emin Sagiyev’s judicial proceedings
The Baku City Court on Grave Crimes
Criminal case №1 (101)-813/2018
October 02, 2018
Presiding judge: Eldar Ismayilov
Judges: Samir Aliyev, Sabuhi Huseynov
Accused: Emin Sagiyev
Defenders: Bahruz Bayramov, Altay Muradov
Prosecutor: Vugar Aliyev
On November 14, 2017, Emin Sagiyev – the brother-in-law of political emigrant Turkel Alisoy, was detained by the employees of the Main Department for Combating Organised Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The preventive measure in form of arrest for the period of 6 months was chosen against him. On March 15, 2018, earlier chosen preventive measure against Sagiyev was extended for 2 months and later was again extended.
After the end of the preliminary investigation, the criminal case was transferred to Baku Court on Grave Crimes. A preparatory meeting was held on August 07, 2018.
From the testimonies of Emin Sagiyev during the court proceedings: “On November 14, 2017, around 11 o’clock, I went together with my father and friend to the service centre at Bakikhanov district of Baku City. On our way, my dad left us and we continued together with a friend our way to the service. At the service centre, my friend Ali Aliyev met with the repairman. While he was talking to him, I stood near the bus. At this moment, suddenly, police approached to me and forced me inside the black car (Hyundai), and drove me to the Police Department.
At that moment, I did not know who these people were. On our way, they handcuffed me and ordered me not to raise my head. The policeman, who sat at my right, hit me several times on my head. Later, at police department, I found out that his name was Shahlar. When I was brought to the Police Department, policeman whose name was Rashad put his hand inside my pocket and pulled 10 packages out from it. He said that it was heroin and that it belonged to me. I objected and said that I have two little kids, and asked them not to do this. Rashad told me that if I don’t admit that the drugs belong to me, they would plant weapon and drugs into my house. Rashad warned me to behave myself well, otherwise he has his own people at Kyurdakhani (the settlement, where Baku city Pretrial Detention #1 is located, and whereat detainees are placed) who can harm me while I am there. While I was at Police Department, someone hit me several times from behind, however I was not able to see person’s face. I was scared of Shahlar’s and Rashad’s threats, and signed testimony that the drugs belonged to me.
Emin Sagiyev also stated that he worked in the security service at one of the shopping centres in Baku, that he was doing sports, was married and had two young children. In the court, he said that the response of the police to his question about the reasons behind his arrest, was that he was punished because of his brother-in-law, political emigrant Turkel Alisoy. Turkel Alisoy is the member of opposition party Popular Front Party of AR. In Azerbaijan, Turkel Alisoy was repeatedly attracted to administrative arrests and punishments for his political activity. Since 2014, he and his wife live in Netherlands, where he continues to criticise Ilham Aliyev’s policy, where he works as presenter of the program “There are news” on the independent Internet Channel Turan TV.
On February 5, 2018, Emin Sagiyev told his lawyer Altay Muradov about the beatings, to which police officers subjected him, and testified about this during the investigation. Further, he testified about the beatings to the employee of the Prosecutor’s Office.
During the sitting of the court, employees of the Main Department for Combating Organised Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Rashad Verdiyev and the head of the investigation group Shahlar Jafarov, and father of accused Shahlar Sagiyev were questioned as witnesses.
On October 2, 2018, Baku City Court on Grave Crimes found Emin Sagiyev guilty of committing crime under Article 234.4.3 (Illegal manufacturing, purchase, storage, transportation, transfer or selling of narcotics, psychotropic substances, committed on preliminary arrangement by group of persons or organised group in large amount) of the Criminal Code of the Azerbaijan Republic and sentenced him to 7 years in prison.
Commentary by an expert lawyer:
The court decision is unlawful and groundless. By speaking about legal proceedings, we must remember about the main purposes of criminal proceedings and towards what it is directed. The purposes of the criminal proceedings are to ensure peace and security of the society, protection of human and civil rights and freedoms, property, economic activity, public order and public security, the environment, the constitutional system of AR from the criminal infringements, as well as prevention of crimes.
The Code of Criminal Procedure of Azerbaijan Republic also aims to “ensure a defence against restrictions on human and civil rights and liberties” (Article 9.1.2).
However, law enforcement agencies in Azerbaijan do not operate in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal and Code on Criminal Procedure of the Republic of Azerbaijan. This is also proven by the case of Emin Sagiyev.
During the preliminary and judicial investigation E. Sagiyev stated that he was detained with numerous violations of criminal procedure law. His detailed description of beatings by the employees of the Main Department for Combating Organised Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan do not leave any doubts in the honesty of his words. During his testimonies at the court, E. Sagiyev uncovered the real reasons behind his arrest, especially about being relative of Turkel Alisoy, who as a journalist of the independent Internet channel Turan TV – harshly criticises the policy of the Azerbaijani authorities and in particular Ilham Aliyev’s policy.
The arrests and convictions for the long term sentences on bogus charges of the relatives of the regime critics who live in political emigration are widely used, especially during the last 5 years, by the ruling regime. Moreover, the number of relatives of the critics of the regime who live in exile were forced to make public statements via Media and on State TV, where they renounced themselves from their relatives (brothers, sons) in order to protect themselves from the arbitrariness of law enforcement agencies.
Emin Sagiyev explained to the court the real reasons behind his arrest. However, the court which was supposed to investigate all the arguments, did not consider these testimonies and even regarded them as “being of protective nature”. During sentencing Court ignored the Article 126.6 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Azerbaijan Republic, according to which “The accused person’s confession of guilt may be accepted as grounds for the charge against him only if confirmed by the contents of all the evidence on the case”.
The verdict of the court was only based on the confession of the accused, the detection of drug packages on him, and the testimonies of policemen, which could not be regarded as irrefutable.
Emin Sagiyev’s testimonies on beatings did not become the basis for the investigation of those facts, that he was testifying about. There is a violation of the Article 12 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Azerbaijan Republic. According to the Article 12.5: “It shall be prohibited to use methods and means that may threaten life and health or the environment during criminal prosecution”. Another Article 12.6 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Azerbaijan Republic states: “The judicial authorities shall not conceal facts that threaten life, health or the environment”.
The court took E. Sagiyev’s testimonies about that he was allegedly selling drugs, which he gave under pressure during the preliminary investigation – as the basis. The court clearly violated Article 25 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Azerbaijan Republic on the independence of judges. According to Article 25.2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure “Judges and jurors shall not be bound by the conclusions reached the prosecuting authorities during the investigation». The Article 25.3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure states: “Judges and jurors shall decide criminal cases and other prosecution matters in accordance with their conscience and legal opinions, on the basis of their examination of the evidence adduced by the parties to the criminal proceedings”. The Court had to examine Emin Sagiyev’s testimonies during the trial proceedings. The Court should’ve not referred to Emin Sagiyev’s testimonies that were given during preliminary investigation. The Article 125.2.2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Azerbaijan Republic states that “Information, documents and other items shall not be accepted as evidence in a criminal case if they are obtained in the following circumstances through the use of violence, threats, deceit, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading acts”.
The court did not examine discrepancies between Emin Sagiyev’s testimonies during the preliminary and judicial investigations. Besides, the court did not interpret them in favour of the accused, as stated in the Article 145.3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure: “If suspicions which emerge during the process of proving the charge cannot be removed by other evidence, they shall be interpreted in favour of the suspect or accused”. Also, under Article 63 (II) of the Constitution of the Azerbaijan Republic, if there is a grounds of suspicion of the person’s guilt, then the person must not be considered guilty. It is called the presumption of innocence, which is enshrined in Article 63 of the Constitution and in Article 6 (2) of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
E. Sagiyev’s guilt was not proved at the court, because investigation was not able to provide enough sufficient evidences to the court. According to the Article 146.1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Azerbaijan Republic, “The notion that sufficient evidence has been collected for the prosecution means that the amount of evidence on the facts to be determined is such as to allow a reliable and final conclusion to be reached on the case”.
E. Sagiyev’s detention, arrest and further extension of his term of the preventive measure are the violations of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. According to the Article 5 (1), “Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be deprived of his liberty save in the following cases and in accordance with a procedure prescribed by law.
(c) the lawful arrest or detention of a person effected for the purpose of bringing him before the competent legal authority on reasonable suspicion of having committed an offence or when it is reasonably considered necessary to prevent his committing an offence or fleeing after having done so”.
As mentioned above, the law enforcement agencies did not provide the court with the enough sufficient grounds for the arrest of E. Sagiyev.
The beating of Emin Sagiyev during detention, subjecting him to psychological and physical pressures is the violation of the Article 3 of European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, that prohibits tortures, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Biased and one sided judicial investigation, failure to consider the arguments provided by the defence during the court proceedings, prejudged attitude towards the case, discrepancy of the results of the judicial sitting to factual circumstances of the case, innocence of Sagiyev in trumped up charge are also evidencing of the violation of the Article 6 of European Convention “In the determination of his civil rights and obligations or of any criminal charge against him, everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law”
The purpose of the punishment of Emin Sagiyev was to silence residing in exile political emigrant Turkel Alisoy, who continues being politically active, works as journalist at the independent Internet Channel Turan TV and who on daily basis unmasks the dictatorial nature of the ruling regime in Azerbaijan.
As can be seen from the analysis of the court proceedings, it was carried out with numerous violations of national and international law, and the sentence was of political nature.