COURTS IN FEBRUARY 2020
17 February
The trial in the case of Yunis Safarov is postponed indefinitely
Ganja case in the courtroom of the Baku City Sabunchi District Court
In the building of the Sabunchi district court of Baku, the process of the case of those accused of attempted assassination of the head of Ganja Elmar Valiyev continued. There are 12 people in the dock, including Yunis Safarov, who personally tried to shoot Valiyev on 3 July 2018.
The case is being examined by the Ganja Serious Crimes Court, chaired by Muhammad Bagirov. At the beginning of the meeting, the defenders requested a trial in Ganja, or in the Baku Serious Crimes Court, since the Sabunchi court’s courtroom is extremely small.
Lawyers also challenged the composition of the court, since Judge Natig Aliyev is a relative of the victim, the former head of Ganja, Elmar Valiyev. On the first issue, the court decided to forward the application to the Ganja Court of Appeal, without responding to the second application, the court announced the completion of the hearing.
29 February
The Court of Appeal for another group in the “Ganja case”
Baku City Court of Appeal
On 28 February, it was concluded another group’s trial in the so-called “Ganja case” at the Court of Appeal.
It was marked by a very aggressive attitude on the part of the court chairman. When the lawyer of the accused Oqtay Huseynzade, Khaliq Huseynov, was trying to approach his client, the Judge Alizamin Abdullayev yelled rudely at the lawyer shouting out “Sit down in your seat!”. But when the lawyer reminded the presiding Judge that his conduct was illegal, Alizamin Abdullayev kept yelling at Khaliq Huseynov. However, the lawyer was not deterred and continued to argue for his right to talk to his client and the unlawful Judge’s actions. Albeit in an irritated form, the Chairman of the court was obliged to acknowledge the lawyer’s right and allowed him to talk to his client.
At the trial, the lawyers pointed out that the defendants had been subjected to cruel torture in the course of the investigation. The investigators committed further gross violations of the law in the Baku Sabunchi district court. Thus, the photos taken in the detention cell requested by the lawyers had not been submitted to the court. Moreover, the forensic conclusions failed to depict the nature of the case.
Rauf Bayramov’s and his son Huseyn Bayramov’s lawyers and all other members of the group have indicated that their clients had not pleaded guilty and demanded their acquittal.
Addressing to the Judge, the lawyer, Khaliq Huseynov, said that although he had read the protocols, he had not been allowed either to take pictures or obtain them,
“The protocol is considered to be evidence in the court. You did not let me obtain that evidence. Secondly, I sent an enquiry to the State Border Guard Service in connection with the accusation against my client, Oqtay Huseynzade, regarding his sojourn in Iran. I received this response indicating that Oqtay Huseynzade had not been in Iran within the period indicated in the investigative files. The Court had also sent an enquiry to the Border Guard Service and received a completely different date, the opposite to the response the Border Guard Service had sent to my enquiry. How could it be?”
Then, the lawyer Kh.Huseynov accused the Prosecutor of being ignorant and stated that he had not been acquainted with the investigation materials of the case,
“You are not aware of the investigative documents and this case in general. You didn’t properly read the investigation materials, so you couldn’t understand it and mixed everything up”.
At the end of the day, the Court issued a ruling leaving the Ganja Serious Crimes Court decision in force.