Court hearings on the case of activist A. Gafarov postponed indefinitely /UPDATED/

Baku/07.06.22/Turan: At the trial in the case of Abid Gafarov, a decision was made to appoint a linguistic examination. As a result, the hearing has been postponed indefinitely. Gafarov himself announced this. -0-

*   *   *

2022 July 06 (Wednesday) 17:23:54

Public activist faces arrest

Baku/06.07.22/Turan: On July 6, the Yasamal District Court considered a complaint in the form of a private criminal charge against the head of the "Baku Unity" public association, the host of the KİM.TV youtube channel, Abid Gafarov.

Lawsuits against him were filed by a group of veterans of the second Karabakh war. At first seven veterans complained, and later four of them  withdrew their complaints,Gafarov himself told Turan.

The reason for the complaints was Gafarov’s speech on the Internet, where he reproached the veterans that they “boldly attacked the Armenians, but now they are not fighting for their rights, and out of hopelessness they sew up their mouths, or commit  self-immolation.” True courage is courage shown against a despot, and veterans behave "dutifully".

Gafarov considers the accusation to be legally unfounded, since he did not name anyone personally. “I didn't want to offend veterans, but on the contrary, I wanted their rights not to be violated,” he said. After he clarified his position, the four veterans withdrew their complaints.

“My lawyer Elchin Sadigov asked the court for a week to get acquainted with the case materials. However, the referee gave him 15 minutes. In violation of the law, they did not let me out of the hall, but I insisted. When the process resumed, the lawyer was not in the hall, but the judge did not postpone the meeting, appointing me a state lawyer,” Gafarov said.

Private prosecutors demand to sentence him to a year in prison for slander and insult - Articles 147, 148 of the Criminal Code. “Veterans are used as a tool, the authorities are behind it,” Gafarov said.

Human rights activists also consider the accusation against Gafarov unfounded. In their opinion, the pressure on Gafarov is connected with his revelations of the facts of torture in the Terter case.

It should be noted that earlier, lawyer Ilham Aslanoglu, who also exposed the facts of torture of defendants in the Terter case, was sentenced to 6 months in prison. --06D--