Tofig Yagublu exposes falsifications of investigation

The regular session of the Baku Court of Grave Crimes on 10 January on the case of Tofig Yagublu, member of the National Council of Democratic Forces and Musavat Party, was held in a tense atmosphere.

At the session, the ‘examination of evidence’ was continued.

Yagublu drew attention to non-logical inconsistencies in the correspondence on ‘WhatsApp’ between other figures, another defendant in the case, Elnur Vagifoglu, and victim Elshan Huseynov. The politician stated that the correspondence was fabricated by the investigation.

Besides, the defence pointed out that according to the antenna data of cellular operators, Vagifoglu and Huseynov could not have met at the Ganjlik metro station at 15.45 on December 8, 2023. For Vagifoglu was far away from there at that time - in Mehtiabad.

Therefore, the statement of the investigation that Huseynov allegedly gave money to Vagifoglu for its subsequent transfer to Yagublu, who ‘promised’ the former to ‘arrange a Schengen visa’ is absolutely not valid, the defence believes.

The situation in the hall became heated after judge Elnur Nuriyev remarked to Yagublu that ‘if he speaks out about every sentence, then the trial should continue for months’.

Yagublu responded by saying that he had already been in detention for more than a year. On the other hand, it is the business of judges to investigate and therefore the judge's rejoinder is not appropriate.

Yagublu also accused judge Nuriev of not being objective, noting that he had released from custody a man accused of defrauding 165 people by fraud.

In response, the judge angrily demanded that Yagublu ‘not interfere in his other cases’.

When Yagublu began to appeal to the court rather than the judge, Nuriev threatened him with continuing the trial without the politician.

This angered those present and an uproar arose in the hall.

The judge removed several of those present, including Yagublu's son-in-law and associate Seymour Hazi, deputy chairman of the PPFA and a member of the NCDF.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for 17 January.

*To recall, Tofig Yagublu, a member of the National Council of Democratic Forces and Musavat Party, was arrested on 14 December 2023 on charges of fraud, falsification and illegal production of official documents and use of forged documents.

Yagublu called the charges far-fetched. The politician has previously been repeatedly subjected to criminal and administrative prosecution.

International organisations have recognised him as a prisoner of conscience.