Baku Court for Serious Crimes on 14 January completed the trial of Afiaddin Mammadov, head of the alternative trade union confederation ‘Workers’ Platform’. The court sentenced him to 8 years of imprisonment.
Zibeyda Sadygova, the defence lawyer, spoke before the trial, stating that none of the charges against the activist were substantiated by evidence. No principle of adversarial nature of the court was ensured at the trial, which did not satisfy the defence's petitions and requested no footage from the surveillance cameras from the scene of the incident.
She emphasised the need to punish the witnesses for giving false testimony, as well as the investigator who fabricated the case. The defence asked the court to acquit Mammadov.
Mammadov himself linked the criminal case to his political activities. He said that in 2020 he decided to found an organisation dedicated to the protection of workers' rights.
In 2022, the confederation of trade unions ‘Workers’ Platform’ was established with the aim of defending them from those who violate their rights and do injustice.
However, the authorities were hostile to this, and the activists of the organisation were subjected to repression - torture and arrest.
As a result, three activists, including himself, were arrested on criminal charges in August-September 2023, and two have already been sentenced to prison terms.
Mammadov said the authorities were afraid of workers fighting for their rights in companies owned by state officials themselves.
*Mammadov was detained outside his home on 20 September after being attacked by an unknown assailant. However, Mammadov himself was charged with assault and stabbing (Article 221.3 (hooliganism committed with the use of weapons) and Article 126.1 (intentional infliction of serious harm to health) of the Criminal Code.
Later the charges were toughened - under Articles 126.2.4 (intentional infliction of serious harm to health by generally dangerous means) and 228.4 (illegal trafficking in weapons). Human rights activists recognised Mammadov as a political prisoner.
Politics
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On January 15, the Tbilisi Court of Appeals rejected the appeal of Afghan Sadigov, the founder of the Azel TV website, who had protested his extradition to Azerbaijan. Sadigov’s wife, Sevinj Sadigova, stated that this was the final judicial instance in Georgia making a decision on the case, Turan reported. On the other hand, lawyer Mariam Kvelashvili informed Turan that the defense would continue legal steps to prevent the extradition of Afghan Sadigov. According to his wife, Afghan has been on hunger strike for 117 days, and his health is critical.
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