Ali Aliyev refused to participate in his trial

Baku/09.08.22/Turan: Today, the Baku Court of Appeal (BСA) held a preliminary hearing on the complaint of the head of the Citizens and Development Party Ali Aliyev against the sentence of imprisonment on the claim of the former functionary of the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan party Ramiz Geyushev.

Aliyev's lawyers petitioned for termination of the criminal prosecution and his release. Aliyev himself, addressing the court, said that he refuses to participate further in the process.

"He said that he sees no point in participating in the trial, because despite his innocence, he cannot prove it because of the bias of the courts and their execution of political order," said human rights activist Rufat Safarov, who was present at the trial.

The court granted Aliyev's application and exempted him from participating in subsequent sessions. At the same time, the court rejected the lawyers' request to terminate the criminal proceedings and scheduled a hearing on the merits for August 16.

"Ali Aliyev's sentences are of political nature. He is persecuted for criticizing the authorities, and personally the head of state. Court proceedings are a mere formality. Ali Aliyev suffered for freedom of expression. The authorities have recently intensified repressions against the defenders of freedom of speech," Rufat Safarov believes.

*Ali Aliyev was sentenced on January 13 of this year to 5 months of imprisonment on charges of libel (Article 147.1 of the Criminal Code) on the basis of a complaint by Emil Jafarov, an officer of the State Border Service (SBS).

On April 15, the court prolonged the sentence by another month to satisfy the complaint against Aliyev of another SBS officer, Ramin Adilov.

The reason for the lawsuits was Ali Aliyev's statement in the press that the officers could not have survived the crash of the MI-17 SBS helicopter on November 30, 2021 and that the helicopter could have been shot down by the Russian side. In the crash of a SBS helicopter in November last year, 14 officers of this department were killed, and two survived.

Ali Aliyev rejected both sentences, calling his arrest "a political order of the country's leadership."

On June 23, the Yasamal court increased Aliyev's sentence to 1 year of imprisonment, satisfying the complaint of Ramiz Geyushev, a former functionary of the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party. The latter filed a lawsuit after Ali Aliyev in a video interview with Boomerang TV in September 2021 called him "hare", "simpleton" and "masturbant".

The reason for this was the footage that appeared on the Internet in September 2021, in which Geyushev watches a porn video. The journalist who distributed the footage was arrested, and Geyushev was expelled from the Party.

**Human rights activists recognized Aliyev as a political prisoner.-06B03-