At Trial of Faig Amirov

Baku / 04.07.17 / Turan: A trial in the criminal case of the financial director of the newspaper Azadlig Faig Amirov continued under the chairmanship of Ayten Aliyeva in the Sabail district court.

The process at which local observers, journalists and representatives of diplomatic missions were present began later than the appointed time.

The first testimony in court was given by the police officer Hasan Aliyev. He said that personally he does not know Amirov: "In August last year, an operational group was created and we were sent to search a certain address. We came to the address and presented to the mistress of the house the decision to search. She said that she wants to invite witnesses herself, and we did not mind. In the presence of witnesses, we searched and found disks in the basement. Then it turned out that Amirov has a car and we searched there too. In the car, we also found disks and books and seized them."

Then the prosecutor asked the witness questions:

Was Faig at home during the search?

No. His wife was at home.

Amirov claims that books and CDs were planted at him...

It's impossible. The case witnesses and even the journalists were always with us during the search.

Then the representative of the Ministry of Taxes asked the witness if a certificate of Amirov that he is the financial director of the newspaper was found in his car.

This question aroused protest of the lawyer Agil Lahijov: "He has no right to ask questions of an accusatory nature, not related to the civil case and tax issues. This is not the first time. I ask you to withdraw the question." The judge granted the request of the lawyer.

Then Agil Lahijov turned to the questions:

In how many hours after the arrest of Amirov did you search?

I did not know about the arrest.

What color was the car?

I do not remember. In my opinion, it was black.

Maybe you ran a search in someone else's car, as Faig"s car is not black?

The car was shown by the wife of the arrested person.

You did not say this in your testimony.

I do not remember the color of the car, what's wrong with that?

Then Judge Aliyeva reported that the witness Elvin Guliyev could not come to court for health reasons and in a telegram to the court he stated that he was confirming his testimony during the investigation.

The judge asked the parties if they did not mind that the testimony was read. There were no objections and the testimonies were read out: "I trade agricultural products and decided to place an advertisement in the newspaper. I went to the office, where I was met by a man of a dense physique named Elshan. I gave him 30 manats. We agreed to pay 300 manats a month. I paid 100 and did not receive a check for it."

After that, the judge asked about the presence of witnesses who should have been brought to court forcibly. It turned out that they were not present again. The prosecutor asked to simply read out the testimony that they gave during the investigation. The judge asked the lawyers' opinion, and Agil Lahijov said that he should consult on this issue with the lawyer Fakhraddin Mehdiyev, who is absent for health reasons. The judge stated that this is not an excuse and can give time to get acquainted with the testimony of the witnesses. The lawyer asked for the time, and the judge granted the petition, appointing the next trial on June 4.

However, today the court was adjourned. -0-