Party leader imprisoned for five months

Baku/13.01.22/Turan: On January 13, the Yasamal District Court of Baku sentenced the head of the opposition Citizens and Development Party (PGR) Ali Aliyev to five months in prison on charges of libel. The lawsuit against him was filed by Lieutenant Colonel of the Border Service Emil Jafarov. Another similar lawsuit against Aliyev was filed by another officer of the border service, Ramin Adilov. They are both survivors of the Mi-17 helicopter crash on November 30 in the Khizi region.

The reason for the lawsuit was Aliyev's interview to the Youtube channel Osmanqızı TV on December 9, 2021. In particular, Aliyev suggested that the helicopter could have crashed as a result of provocation from the outside. Therefore, the attack on the helicopter of the border service should be considered as an attack on the borders of Azerbaijan, he said.

Aliyev did not rule out that Russia, which has long sought to secure the border of Azerbaijan, may be behind the provocation. Based on this, Aliyev considered it unlikely that two border guards survived the crash.

Lawyer Javad Javadov told Turan that the defense petitioned to postpone the hearing. “I just joined the defense today and then asked to postpone the hearing so that I could familiarize myself with the case materials. But the judge gave me only 30 minutes and continued the hearing, ”the lawyer said.

According to him, Aliyev himself said that he had no purpose to slander the officers. Ali Aliyev said that he was simply analyzing the facts and came to the conclusion that they were not in the helicopter. According to him, it was impossible to survive in a car that fell at such a great height. The lawyer stressed that during the court session, Aliyev felt bad and his blood pressure increased to 220/150. However, the judge continued the process. During the break of the session, Aliyev was not released from the courthouse. After the end of the hearings, the defense asked for several days to prepare for the final statement.

According to Javadov, the defense was given only five minutes to prepare, and the judge did not give the last word to Aliyev. After a short consultation, the judge sentenced Aliyev to 5 months in prison under  the Article 147.1 (libel).

Javadov called the court's decision "another order executed by the court." This, he noted, is evidenced by the haste with the conduct of the process with gross violations of procedural norms and the announcement of the verdict. The defense will appeal the verdict.

The lawyer noted that the lawsuit continues on another similar claim. The defense does not exclude that there will also be a conviction with imprisonment. — 06D-