Shattered reputation of justice

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Question: You are aware of the arrest of a journalist Avaz Zeynalli and lawyer Elchin Sadigov, and probably, until this moment, you have been following the processes preceding this. Give first a legal opinion on these arrests.

Answer: Searches and arrests were carried out with gross violation of the law, and these violations are not ordinary. This is an example of a clear disregard for two important professions and the representatives of these professions.

Elchin Sadigov is a lawyer. He is also an active human rights lawyer. Avaz Zeynalli is a journalist. Both professions are inherently opponents, critics of the government, especially its power structures, the security forces. They protect people's rights from violations by state bodies. In addition, the lawyer in the vast majority of criminal cases "crosses swords" with the investigating authorities and the prosecutor's office, works to refute the accusations, and defends the accused. Without this, justice is impossible.

Thus, if lawyers and journalists are not sufficiently protected by law, if special procedures are not applied to them, then justice is lame, it does not exist, the rights of people to receive information normally, to know what the government is doing are suppressed.

When deciding on the search and conducting the search, these special rules were not followed either in relation to Elchin Sadigov or Avaz Zeynalli. Both professions have the right to professional secrecy. A lawyer in connection with a case where he is the defense has such documents and information that no one should know about, and especially the prosecutor's office. Because it's the other side. The possibility of illegal seizure of confidential documents from a lawyer devalues ​​the defense, makes the institution of advocacy powerless.

The same is true of journalistic secrecy. If it is not well protected, no one will dare to provide a journalist with confidential information that represents a high degree of risk. If the information provided to a journalist can be easily seized, if the prosecutor's office and the police can easily seize it from a journalist, take it from his home, then this is a complete discrediting of the journalistic profession. It kills its effectiveness.

Along with Elchin Sadigov, the prosecutor's office violated the rights of his wife, the well-known human rights lawyer Zibeyda Sadigova, who works with him, as well as the rights of persons under her protection.

Arrest violations are also evident. Imprisonment for the duration of the investigation, for a period of four months (as an extreme measure of restraint) can be applied only in extreme cases, clearly specified by law. For example, if a person can run away and hide, flee the country and not be brought to justice, or if he can seriously obstruct the course of the investigation, justice and other cases. Did the prosecutor, who petitioned for the arrest, and the court, which made such a decision, substantiate that Elchin Sadigov would run away and hide, not appear in court, and not appear at the summons of the investigation, if he was at large until the trial? Or will it obstruct justice, intimidate witnesses, destroy evidence, and so on? Until this is proven, the decision to arrest is a gross violation of laws, human rights, and this was not done by chance.

It is obvious that they went to such obvious violations because there was a serious order. Instead of imprisonment, for example, they could receive a written undertaking not to leave the city of Baku. They could be put under house arrest.

And finally, the accusation. Allegedly, they received a bribe. Both persons categorically rejected   such put forward by the prosecutor's office. There are plenty of reasons to call these accusations untrustworthy. In particular, an allegation of a violation of Article 311 is the fruit of a sophisticated fantasy. The accusation of bribery is a crime that can be applied to persons holding administrative positions, authorized (official) persons. A journalist or a lawyer cannot be the subject of such a crime. Secondly, the haste with which the charges and the arrest were carried out, accompanied by violations, gives reason to say that this case was ordered and the charge was tailored on the basis of this order.

Question: The Prosecutor General's Office does not respond to media investigations related to corruption. However, it immediately takes this issue under control, starts searches on Saturday, and the court makes a decision at 4 am. What conclusions follow from this?

Answer: You are right. This "over-sensitivity" of the prosecutor's office to the issue of bribes is extraordinary. For some reason, the prosecutor's office, which did not respond to the well-founded materials circulated in the media about the theft of 10 million dollars by high-ranking government officials, suddenly realized its duty and began to move?

Recently,  were distributed the materials about the multimillion-dollar collection of cars of the son of state official No. 1 of the city of Ganja. The  same situation is with many heads of the Executive Power of districts and cities, ministers, heads of departments, officials of state-owned companies. There are plenty of facts. But the prosecutor's office is inactive. And now they suddenly found a lawyer and a journalist who took bribes. What is the reason? The question is rhetorical.

But, even if you believe in the honesty of the prosecutor's office and what it said is true, that is, there was a monetary transaction. What is the motive, is it clear? If the lawyer received money, he may have received it for services rendered. According to the prosecutor's office, the money could even be taken to prevent black "PR" about the protected person, create a good image of him and conduct a media campaign to tell the truth. Why should this be considered a bribe?

The same is about the journalist. Can't Internet TV get paid for some kind of PR services or for preparing programs and films based on some documents? If there are any violations of the principles of media ethics in the provision of such a service, this should be investigated, but this is not a reason for the prosecutor to intervene. A lawyer or journalist does not receive a monthly salary from the state, like a prosecutor. He receives money for services. In other words, if there is money, it is impossible to speak unambiguously about the accomplished lawlessness. It is necessary to carefully study many nuances and draw the right conclusions.

Question: What is behind these arrests?

Answer: Again, we return to the fact that the "problem" with the prosecutor's office has nothing to do with money. The prosecutor, or rather, those who gave the order to the prosecutor, were motivated precisely by what happened to Rasim Mammadov, a client of  Elchin Sadigov. More precisely, to prevent what might happen. The decision to arrest such persons as Rasim Mammadov is not made by the prosecutor's office. Although this is the law, in reality the prosecutor's office does not have such powers. That is why the trial of Rasim Mammadov and the trial around him are under close scrutiny. Every word, every meeting, whisper, every gesture.

One message in the media caught my attention. They wrote that allegedly Rasim Mammadov said that he was ready to publish a list of all the people to whom he gave money. I think they took it as blackmail and got worried. It was ordered to put an end to this and seize all the transferred documents and materials. This is the reason for the hasty illegal searches. However, it is possible that they were angered by the fact that the lawyer and the journalist tried to induce Rasim Mammadov, who was punished by his superiors, to tell the truth.

If you remember, the same thing happened to Jahangir Hajiyev, who was the director of the International Bank. Then, at the request of the prosecutor's office, several lawyers were subjected to strict measures, and their legal activities were frozen. In this case, it seems that they were more embittered, and moreover, the forces that have a special grudge against both Elchin Sadigov and Avaz Zeynalli took advantage of the situation and began to act.

Question: Elchin Sadigov represented the interests of political prisoners in many well-known cases. The arrest of a lawyer also means that many people will be left without a lawyer. We encountered this when Intigam Aliyev was arrested. Many political prisoners were left without lawyers, their appeals to the European Court were delayed, their documents were lost. Maybe this is one of the purposes of the arrest of Elchin Sadigov?

Answer: The reason for the search in the office and house of Elchin Sadigov may be the seizure of documents and evidence provided by the person he was defending and his family. What else could the prosecutor's office look for there? I am sure that if you look at the presentation of the prosecution and the decision of the court on this matter, you will see that the prosecution did not quite clearly write and substantiate what it wanted to find during the search. What evidence could be in the office and house of Elchin Sadigov that could confirm the accusation made by them?

As a result of this search, confidential information and documents concerning all the work carried out by Elchin Sadigov and his wife, lawyer Zibeyda Sadigova, who worked with him, were undoubtedly seized. The prosecutor's office and the court can do nothing to substantiate the legality and validity of this search.

Question: And in conclusion, what steps should the people who ordered this arrest take to eliminate this violation of the law as soon as possible?

Answer: First of all, illegal detentions should be canceled and they should be released. It must be admitted that this step discredits the government and the judiciary, regardless of who those in  power  who ordered the arrests are trying to prove that laws are a toy.

Following this, the justice system must  try to eliminate the enormous harm caused by illegal searches. The prosecutor's office should investigate the circumstances that led to this error, return the seized documents and compensate for the damage. They are also important  for restoration of the  shattered reputation of the justice system.