The mysterious circumstances of the case of 10-year-old Narmin

Baku/14.04.22/Turan: The trial in the case of Ilkin Suleymanov, accused of kidnapping and murdering 10-year-old Narmin Guliyeva in the village of Dondar Gushchu, Tovuz region, continues. The case is being considered in the Ganja  Serious Crimes Court.

Ilkin Suleymanov, born in 1973,  is charged under  the Article 120.2.4 (deliberate murder committed with special cruelty), 120.2.9 (deliberate murder of a person, a person known to the guilty person to be in a helpless state, as well as associated with the kidnapping of a person or taking a hostage), 144.3 (abduction of a minor) and other articles UK AR. According to the indictment, he was jealous of his classmate Sharif Guliyev, because he had a family and children, so he kidnapped his daughter Narmin and killed her 47 days later.

Ilkin Suleymanov says that he was not involved in the death of a minor. Regarding his initial confession, he said that from January 6 to 10, 2020, he was tortured in the Tovuz District Department of Internal Affairs. Four days later, he could not stand the torture and was forced to sign a confession.

Rufat Safarov, a human rights activist and co-founder of the human rights organization Line of Defense, spoke about what happened during the investigation and trial in the Difficult Question program.

According to him, from the very beginning of this case, since the winter of 2019, on social networks and other platforms, he spoke about the lack of professionalism of the operational-investigative bodies.

“The burned body of Narmin Guliyeva was discovered 47 days after the murder. As it turned out from the documents of the investigation, the search was carried out only in the house of the deceased and her relatives. Although, the police were obliged to conduct a search in all the houses of the village. Moreover, the village is tiny and it would not be difficult. And only later, while carrying out some operational-search activities, the police found the body of the deceased in the home of the accused Ilkin Suleymanov,” Rufat Safarov said.

He stressed that the suspect in the crime was discovered only after the case was taken under personal control by President Ilham Aliyev.

“After that, the investigation team, headed by the Prosecutor General of the Republic, Zakir Garalov, reported within 24 hours that the crime was committed by a resident of the village of Dondar Gushchu, Ilkin Suleymanov,” the human rights activist said.

According to him, the guilt of Ilkin Suleymanov raises serious doubts.

"Since the case was high-profile and its disclosure was delayed, the president was forced to take it under his control and therefore, it acquired a political character," Safarov said.

According to him, Ilkin Suleymanov was tortured in the Tovuz regional police department for 4 days. “By the way, both his cellmate and fellow villager, the owner of a small shop, were tortured for 2 days. It was only by sheer luck that he managed to escape. As it turned out during the trial, the investigation was seeking testimony from this fellow villager that at the time he was at the Bank, Ilkin Suleymanov was buying ladies' pads in his store (according to the investigation for Narmin - ed. note).

But he still had a receipt on which the time of his stay at the bank was indicated. When the body was found, the fellow villager was in Tovuz and used banking services,” Safarov said, adding that another resident of Dondar Gushchu, Mahir Orudjev, said in court that he was summoned to the police and there the Head of the Internal Investigations Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office Kilijov Kamal and the head of the police department Colonel Shirzad Askerov of the Tovuz region threatened him, demanding that he testify that he was an eyewitness to how Ilkin Suleymanov burned the corpse of the victim.

According to Safarov, the possibility of keeping a 10-year-old child in the winter cold, in an unheated room for 47 days is doubtful, so much so that during this time no one heard any sounds, calls for help. Moreover, the room where his parents live is only 5-10 meters from his home.

“It is not clear how and what the victim of Suleymanov ate, where she met her natural needs. As far as I know, at the place where the victim was allegedly kept, the investigation did not find any material evidence of her presence.

All these circumstances cast doubt on the involvement of Ilkin Suleymanov in the kidnapping and murder of a child. I do not believe in this man’s guilt,” said the human rights activist.