Preparatory trial of Anar Mammadli

The Baku Court of Grave Crimes chaired by Judge Rauf Aliyev April 21 held a preparatory meeting on the case head of the Election Monitoring Center and democracy training (TSMVOD), executive director of the NGO Suleymanli Bashir and the head of the Public Association for International Cooperation Volunteers (MSBVW) Elnur Mammadov.

They are accused of Clause 5 of the Criminal Code - tax evasion, illegal business, abuse of office, embezzlement on a large scale and official forgery. All the three men deny the charges.

This criminal case was opened at the end of October 2013, December 17, Mammadli was taken into custody, while the other two defendants are under house arrest.

At the preparatory meeting Mammadli was put in an iron cage.

The court session caused increasing attention from the public, as well as foreign diplomatic corps.

In attendance were members of civil society, representatives of embassies of the USA, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and the EU.

The meeting began with the lawyer Elchin Sadigov asking to ensure the right to defense. He petitioned for Mammadli’s release from the iron cage and asked to let him sit next to the lawyers.

In addition, taking into account the high public interest, Sadigov petitioned the video shooting of the trial to publicize it in the media.

Next Sadigov requested to discontinue the proceedings.

Thus, the lawyer considers unlawful the calculation of financial sanctions against the defendants, as the Ministry of Taxes has provided neither a desk nor a field tax audit.

On the other hand, according to the US -Azerbaijani intergovernmental agreement, U.S. financial assistance is exempt from VAT.

The accusation of embezzlement is absurd because there are no victims of this.

As for the abuse of power that, according to the investigation, was expressed in influencing election results, it is ridiculous as TSMVOD had no opportunity to rig elections.

Lawyers for the other defendants, Bashir Suleymanli and Elnur Mammadov, Alibaba Rzayev and Javad Javadli also supported the petition.

Another lawyer Fariz Namazly petitioned for a change of measure of restraint against Mammadli for house arrest or bail.

He said that the investigation is completed and Mammadli cannot influence witnesses or tamper with evidence, and therefore there is no reason to keep him in custody.

Namazly also pointed out the inconsistency of charges of "abuse of office" that, according to the investigation, was expressed in influencing the outcome of elections. According to the counsel, it is a ridiculous accusation because TSMVOD or MSBVW could not do election fraud.

Fariz Namazly also petitioned for house arrest or bail.

Attracted as victims, Sahib Rustamli, Elshan Suleymanov and Kamil Aliyev also supported the petition.

These individuals participated in projects of TSMVOD, but they do not have any claims, though the investigation attracted them as victims.

As Namazly explained, only the grantors can speak as victims in this case, because the investigators claim their funds were embezzled.

The counsel Rzayev also requested summons as witnesses of experts from the Ministries of Finance and Taxes.

The judge dismissed all the petitions, except permission to Mammadli to sit with the lawyers during the trial and to call additional witnesses.

The consideration of the hearing on the merits is scheduled for April 28. -16D06 –