Sentence passed on accused in torture of 'Terter case' defendants

Baku/29.11.23/Turan: The Baku military court on Wednesday completed consideration of the criminal case against those accused of torturing former defendants of the "Terter case".

The court sentenced former commander of the military unit Vusal Aleskerov, former chief of staff of the same unit Rashid Niftaliyev and super enlisted soldier Ramil Garayev to 5.6 years of imprisonment each. Another conscript Rustam Aleskerov was sentenced to 9.5 years' imprisonment.

They were found guilty under Articles 145.3 (illegal deprivation of liberty), 293.3 (tortures and other forms of inhuman or degrading treatment), 341.2.2 (abuse of power) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.

In particular, they were charged with tortures of servicemen detained in April-May 2017 in Terter garrison.

According to the indictment, unit commander Vusal Aleskerov, "created a group of officers and used them to expose the military working for the enemy and to increase his authority in front of the command".

Various types of tortures were applied to the suspects to extract confessions, the prosecution said.

Recall that it’s about the events of the spring of 2017, when a group of military and civilians were arrested on charges of cooperation with the special services of Armenia and the preparation of sabotage.

During the investigation, eight people were tortured to death, but they were subsequently posthumously rehabilitated. Dozens of people were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, but later acquitted. However, several more military personnel still remain in custody.—06B-