At the Trial of Activist Bayram Mamedov

In the Baku Court of Appeal on January 18 a preliminary hearing was held on the case of a NIDA activist Bayram Mamedov, who painted a monument to Heydar Aliyev, but was sentenced to 10 years for drug trafficking.

The lawyer Elchin Sadigov petitioned to justify Mamedov. In case of refusal, he requested a partial re-trial investigation, to change the measure of restraint and release the activist on bail or put him under house arrest.

The lawyer also proposed to withdraw pages 1-61 from the materials of the criminal case.

“These pages have no signatures of the lawyers and the participation of the defense was not ensured. Therefore, they cannot be considered evidence,” said the lawyer.

He also requested the court to call the employees of the 12^th police department of the Sabunchu district, who detained Mamedov, as well as the head of the anti-drug police of the capital.

In addition, the defense solicited to perform an examination of fingerprints on the plastic bag with the drug, which, according to the investigators, belonged to Mamedov.

However, the prosecutor opposed the motions and the judge Hasan Ahmadov rejected them. The hearing on the merits is scheduled for February 3.

The activist of NIDA Bayram Mamedov on December 8, 2016 was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He and Giyas Ibrahimov were arrested after they painted political slogans on the monument to Heydar Aliyev. However, they were accused of drug trafficking on a large scale.

Amnesty International has recognized them as prisoners of conscience. Earlier Ibrahimov was also sentenced to 10 years in prison. -03C06--