Bakhtiyar Hajiyev's lawyer claims that his right to defence was violated

On 23 December, at the trial of activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev in the Court of Grave Crimes, the escorts violated the confidentiality of his communication with his lawyer. This was reported by his lawyer Agyl Laij.

Thus, Bakhtiyar Hajiyev wanted to hand over documents to the lawyer due to the planned motions. However, the escorts did not allow him to do so. Moreover, they took away the documents.

‘This is a direct violation of the confidentiality of the accused's communication with the lawyer, and the right to defence,’ said Laij. Despite the defence lawyer's protest, presiding judge Ali Mammadov dismissed the incident. According to the lawyer, the escorts did not return the documents to either him or Hajiyev.

He also noted that in connection with the illegal actions of the guards he appealed to the leadership of the Penitentiary Service.

It was not possible to get a comment from the Penitentiary Service.

*Public activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev was arrested in December 2022 on charges of hooliganism and contempt of court.

On 16 June last year, the activist was charged with financial irregularities - misappropriation of grants. He was also charged with illegal entrepreneurship, money laundering, smuggling and use of false documents.

In November of the same year, another charge was brought against him - tax evasion.

Hajiyev himself and his colleagues consider the trial a political order, the reason for which was Hajiyev's harsh criticism of the activities of the Azerbaijani Interior Ministry and, in particular, of Minister Vilayat Eyvazov himself.