An appeal against the verdict in the "Nardaran case"

Lawyers for the defendants in the case of Nardaran "today presented an appeal against the verdict. The talk is about the  "Nardaran case -1" when in the Baku Serious Crimes  Court presided over by Judge Alovsat Abbasov  sentenced the leader of the movement "Muslim unity" Thale Bagirzade and another 17 defendants.

Bagirzade was sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of planning armed seizure of power and change the constitutional order, and the deputy chairman of the opposition party, the Popular Fuad Gahramanli - for 10 years only for the fact that Facebook has supported the just demands of Nardaran residents. The rest also sentenced to long prison terms.

Lawyers Fariz Namazly, Yalcin Imanov, Nemat Karimli, Fakhraddin Mehdiyev presented a collective complaint against the verdict in the cases of 15 persons. According to Namazly , the complaint raises the question of justification of convicts, including Thale Bagirzade, Abbas Huseynov because their guilt has not been proved, and APFP deputy chairman Fuad Gahramanli - due to lack of events crime.

Also it raises the question of making the private determination in respect of employees of the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime ( MDCOC) Kerim Alimardanov, Shahlar Jafarov and Islam Agabekov, Ibrahim Kazimov, who tortured the accused.

It is also proposed to recognize a violation of the presumption of innocence of the accused, violation of the right to protection from torture guaranteed by Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as the accused in detention for 5 hearings (14,16,19,21 and 23 December) in the basement of the Baku Serious Crimes  Court. At the same time, on 14-23 December, they conducted a hunger strike to protest against non-admission of their participation in the trial.

The complaint also points to the gross violation of the rights of the accused during the investigation, obtaining evidence of unacceptable practices - through torture.

The arrested for  a long time are not allowed to meet with their lawyers, contact with their families. After the preventive measure they were kept  for weeks in the MDCOC.

Bahruz Askerov, Jahad Babkishizade and Shamil Abdulaliev were deprived of quality health care, and  in their body still they remain rubber bullets fired in November 2015 during a police assault. -06B--