Hearings on Ismayilli events postponed to next week (UPDATED)

The new session of the Sheki Court of Grave Crimes scheduled for January 29 did not take place due to absence of the lawyer of several defendants. The hearings will continue next week on February 1-3 .

January 23, 2013 drunken hotel workers in Chirag damaged a local car, and then began to insult all the people of Ismayilli.

This aroused the indignation of residents who trashed and burned the hotel. The riots stopped Jan. 24 after the nternal troops were brought. 18 people were arrested.

The head of REAL Movement Ilgar Mamedov, the deputy chairman of the party Musavat Tofig Yagublu and 16 defendants are charged under articles 220.1 (organization and active participation in the riots ) and 315.2 (resistance to authority ) .

Mamedov and Yagublu have been recognized by Amnesty International as " prisoners of conscience " . -06D -

2014 January 28 (Tuesday) 18:44:47

Trial in the case of Ismayilli events held in the Sheki Serious Crimes on January 28 in the afternoon questioned journalists as witnesses. Employees of the newspaper "Yeni Musavat" and "Azadliq",  Elshan Balakhan and Ramin Deco, stated that on January 24  they saw  the head of  REAL Movement, Ilgar Mamedov, and deputy party "Musavat" Tofig Yagublu, in Ismayilli, but they have not committed illegal acts.

However , the petition  of Mamedov  on calling him as a witness of the  journalist Idrak Abbasov, filming these events in the video, was not satisfied.

Another three witnesses from  Ismayilli region also said they had not seen any illegal actions of the accused. The  trial  will continue on January 29. -05B06-

2014 January 28 (Tuesday) 14:03:54

In the Sheki Court of Grave Crimes the trial over the Ismayilli events continues.

In this case on trial are 18 people , including the head of the movement REAL Ilgar Mamedov and the deputy chairman of the party Musavat Tofig Yagublu .

January 28 in the first half of the day there were seven prosecution witnesses from among the residents of Ismayilli .

They abandoned the testimony given during the preliminary investigation, saying that they were pressed. These witnesses testified that they had not seen those sitting in the dock among the rioters.

The head of the REAL Majlis Erkin Gadirli and the representative of the Marshall Fund Mehriban Rahimli.

They confirmed that Ilgar Mamedov went to Ismailly in order to familiarize with the situation . Mamedov during his stay in Ismailly talked on the phone with both witnesses and told them what was happening .

On January 23, 2013 drunken Chirag hotel workers damaged a local car, and then began to insult all the local people. This aroused indignation of the residents who trashed and burned the hotel. The riots stopped Jan. 24 after internal troops were brought. 18 people were arrested.

Ilgar Mamedov, Tofig Yagublu and 16 other defendants are charged under Articles 220.1 (organization and active participation in the riots ) and 315.2 ( resistance to authority ) .

The trial on the Ismayilli events began on November 4, 2013. -05B-

2014 January 27 (Monday) 19:02:02

Trial  on the  Ismayilli events continued today  in the Sheki  Serious Crimes Court. Witnesses gave testimonies. In particular, they questioned  resident of the village of Ivanovka and three police officers.

A villager Ruslan Rudenko began to testify against the leader of REAL  Movement, Ilgar Mamedov and deputy chairman  of "Musavat" Tofig Yagublu, claiming that they allegedly incited  resident of Ismayilli region  to go to the building of executive power, and  throw stones at police. The defendants protested that a witness  was saying a lie. Especially because his testimony contradicted his testimony at the preliminary investigation.

Two police officers also testified against the defendants. However, their colleague,  Ahmed Hajiyev, said that  he had never seen any of the defendants of participants  during the events. --05B06--    

2014 January 27 (Monday) 14:05:23

The Sheki Court of Grave Crimes continued the trial on the Ismayilli events today. Eighteen people, including the head of the movement REAL Ilgar Mamedov and the deputy chairman of the party Musavat Tofig Yagublu, are being tried.

At the beginning of the meeting Yagublu's lawyer Nemat Kerimli made ??a motion to change the measure of restraint against his client.

He explained this with the fact that last week the wife and daughter of Yagublu returning from Sheki to Baku after the court session, got in a serious car accident and seriously suffered. However, the court rejected the petition.

Next the court called 11 witnesses for the prosecution to testify. None of them gave evidence against the accused.

It is noteworthy that Rovshan Agayev, who at the time was head of the social and economic department of the Executive Power of Ismayilli and now is the first deputy head of this district, gave no evidence against the defendants either.

The resident Shamil Nuriyev refused of his evidence given at the preliminary investigation, reporting that he gave the evidence under police pressure. He said that he was kept in the basement and subjected to physical pressure for two days.

On January 23, 2013 several drunken workers of the hotel Chirag damaged a local car and then began to insult all the people of Ismayilli.

This aroused the indignation of the residents who trashed and burned the hotel. The riots stopped on Jan. 24 after the internal troops were brought. Eighteen people were arrested.

Ilgar Mamedov, Tofig Yagublu and 16 other defendants are charged under Articles 233 (organization and active participation in activities that disrupt public order ) and 315.2 (resistance to authority).

The trial on the Ismayilli events started on November 4, 2013. -05B-