Prosecutor asked for 11 years of imprisonment for Ali Hasanov's close associate

Baku/07.12.21/Turan: In Baku the prosecutor asked for 11 years of imprisonment for Ali Hasanov's close associate. The trial of Vugar Safarli, former executive director of the abolished Media Development State Support Fund, and several other defendants is coming to an end at the Court of Grave Crimes. The state prosecutor made a closing statement at the trial today.

He asked the court to sentence Safarli to 11 years of imprisonment with a three-year ban on holding public office after his release.

The prosecutor proposed to sentence other defendants - Nadir Mamedov, Bunyamin Ismailov, Telman Tairov, Adalat Veliyev and Namik Hajiyev to 7 years of imprisonment; Tamkin Khalilov, Valeh Orudzhev, Shahin Ibragimov and Bakhtiyar Fatullayev to 2 years of imprisonment.

The prosecutor added that the defendants who had been at large during the investigation, should be placed in custody.

The prosecutor also proposed a suspended sentence of six years for another defendant, Takhmina Yagubova.

Besides, the state prosecutor asked to satisfy a civil suit filed by the Media Development Agency.

At the next court session on December 14, the lawyers will make their final speeches following which the defendants themselves will make a final statement.

According to the indictment, Safarli in collusion with several officials embezzled public funds, overstated the amount of work, stealing 18 million 500 thousand manats.

The defendants were charged under Article 179.4 (misappropriation on a large scale), 193-1.3.2 (legalization of criminally obtained funds), 308.2 (abuse of office, resulting in grave consequences), 313 (forgery in office) and other articles of the Criminal Code.

Safarli was dismissed from the post of the foundation's executive director by Presidential decree on April 4, 2020. He was arrested on 14 January this year. 

The months-long trial uncovered the involvement of former Presidential aide Ali Hasanov and members of his family in financial irregularities.

In particular, one of the episodes of the charges brought against him concerned the contract for the lease of an office in an administrative building at 23 L Metbuat Street.

Safarli has confirmed that the rented building was owned by former Presidential aide Ali Hasanov who had offered to rent the office there at an inflated price for nine years.

The building was on the balance sheet of Azermetbutyayim founded by Kaspi.az LLC and owned by Sona Veliyeva, Hasanov's wife.

As of 2019, the State Media Support Fund, on Ali Hasanov's instructions, rented another 421-square-metre premises there. According to Safarli, Shamkhal Hasanov, Ali Hasanov's son, concluded a new contract, as the building was already registered in his name.

According to Ali Hasanov's instructions, a "group of bloggers" was housed there and engaged in writing comments under materials critical of the government and officials on social media.-05D06-