At Trial on Opposition Activist�s Case

Baku / 23.04.19 / Turan: The Baku Court of Grave Crimes on Tuesday continued the trial on the case of the Musavat party member Azad Hasanov.

He was detained in October 2018 immediately after returning from Lithuania, where he had been living in political emigration for 4 years. Being detained, he was charged under art. 234.4.3 of the Criminal Code (large-scale drug trafficking).

The trial continued with the interrogation of the witnesses. The witness Beyukbey Alirbeyev said he saw in the office of the Main Police Department of Baku city that Hasanov pulled out three convolutions from the front right pocket of his trousers, in which he had gray powder and said he had found them in the cemetery. Also, according to Alirbeyev, Hasanov had a wallet with 500 euros and a phone in his pocket.

In addition, the witness said that after 2-3 months he was called by the investigator and invited to a confrontation. However, Azad Hasanov himself objected, saying that on the day of his arrest such a witness was not at all in the office, and for the first time he saw him only at the confrontation.

After asking the lawyer and reading the testimony of the witness, it turned out that he did not see the money; moreover he incorrectly called the pockets from which the accused pulled out the convolutions.

The witness explained this with the fact that during the confrontation, the lawyer Osman Kazymov put pressure on him. In addition, the witness indicated that he was the last to enter the office; however, his words also diverged from the testimony of another witness.

The witness Parviz Mammadov, an employee of the State Security Bureau, testified that the operative Elvin Kazymov had received operational information that a citizen named Azad Hasanov was engaged in the illegal sale of drugs. A task force was formed, in which he also went to Hovsan for detention.

Realizing by external signs that it was Azad, they approached him, introduced themselves and detained him. During the inspection, with the participation of a lawyer and attesting witnesses, Hasanov pulled out three bundles from the front pocket of his trousers containing gray powder, and then the contents of the bundles were sent in a sealed envelope for examination.

The lawyer Osman Kazymov said that there are contradictions in the testimony of this witness. So, in court, he stated that the substance found at Hasanov was in the form of a powder, and in the protocol it was indicated that it was in the form of crystals.

Then, the lawyer Kazymov filed a petition for the interrogation of the police officer Fikret Gasymov, who participated and supervised the operation, and did not allow Hasanov to contact his relatives and a lawyer after the arrest.

The lawyer also asked to send a request to the service 102 and to the hot line of the Prosecutor General"s Office to get a printout of the calls of Hasanov"s relatives to these services, when searching for him.

The court decided to respond to the petitions at the next meeting on May 7. -0-