The Baku Court of Grave Crimes on November 28 began its consideration on the merits of the criminal case against seven activists of NIDA and a member of the organization Free Youth Ilkin Rustamzade. They are accused of the preparation of riots during the campaign of the March 10 protest in Baku. Initially the young people were accused of illegal possession of weapons and drugs.
On these charges in March and April were arrested members of NIDA Mamed Azizov, Bakhtiyar Guliyev, Shahin Novruzlu, Rashadat Akhundov, Uzeyir Mammadov, Rashad Hasanov and Zaur Gurbanly.
In May, Ilkin Rustamzade from the Free Youth was arrested. He and Guliyev are accused of hooliganism, in particular performance of the Harlem Shake dance on the seafront.
At the meeting, the prosecutor read the indictment. In this case, the charges for each defendant were repeated almost word for word. Zaur Gurbanly even said ironically that the drafters of the document made just a "copy - paste".
The young people rejected the charges and said they are being persecuted for political reasons. The judge scheduled the next hearing on December 5 at 10.30.
The former presidential candidate from the National Council Jamil Hasanli attended the trial. Commenting on the meeting, he said that the prosecution is based on "abstract" statements, with no specific evidence. Hasanli believes that the activists are persecuted for political reasons.
The lawyer Asabali Mustafayev also expressed confidence that the trial would demonstrate artificiality and rigged charges. - 06B-
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