Court rejects Bakhtiyar Hajiyev's petitions

Baku/08.01.24/Turan: The preparatory hearing on the case of public activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev was over the day before at the Baku Serious Crimes Court presided over by judge Ali Mammadov.

During the hearing, the defence requested to terminate the criminal case on charges of economic crimes - "illegal entrepreneurship", "legalisation of criminal funds", "smuggling", "tax evasion" and "use of forged documents".

According to defence lawyer Elchin Sadygov, these charges are based on anonymous "documents" of unknown origin.

Another request by the defence lawyers was to release Hajiyev under house arrest.

Sadygov pointed out that Bakhtiyar Hajiyev has a permanent place of residence, and is not going to evade the court; he is not allowed to leave the country, and the probability of re-offending is zero.

Hajiyev himself noted that only Articles 221.2.2 (hooliganism) and 289.1 (contempt of court), which he also rejects, could be the subject of a judicial investigation. Hajiyev described himself as a "political hostage".

The court, without granting any of the motions, scheduled a hearing on the merits for 19 January.

Recall that Bakhtiyar Hajiyev was detained on 9 December 2022 on charges of hooliganism under Articles 221 and 289 (contempt of court) of the Criminal Code.

In July the same year he was charged under Articles 192 (illegal entrepreneurship), 193-1 (legalisation of criminal proceeds) and 206 (smuggling) of the Criminal Code.

On 7 November Hajiyev was also charged under Article 213.1 of the Criminal Code (evasion of taxes, unemployment, compulsory medical and social insurance payments).

All the charges were fabricated. Bakhtiyar Hajiyev is convinced that the reason for his arrest and charges is criticism of the authorities. Human rights activists recognised him as a political prisoner.-03B06-