Court of Appeal - the courthouse is controlled

Baku/16.08.19 / Turan: On August 16, the Baku Court of Appeal continued the trial of the case of a group of persons convicted in the Ganja case of 2018. Yaver Ismailzade, Zabil Mammadov, Ganbar Garazade, Elvin Aliyev, Isa Maharramzade, Aydin Rustamov and Alim Yusifov were sentenced to 7 years and 6 months in prison this March on charges of organizing riots and violence against government officials. Most prisoners today refused the last word, protesting the trial and the charges. The trial will continue on August 22. Meanwhile, the courthouse was taken under increased police control. In the courtroom and around the building were police squads.

They allowed into the hall after a thorough check. Most of the journalists were not allowed into the hall.

These measures were taken after yesterday's riots in the same court, when relatives of the convicts defeated the courtroom and continued protests on the street.

On July 3, 2018, a resident of Ganja, Yunis Safarov, committed an armed attack on the head of Ganja, Elmar Veliyev. The reason for this was the endless insults and bullying of the mayor of the city residents.

Yunis Safarov was arrested, and his actions were called a terrorist attack. However, residents of the city stood up for him and organized a protest rally on July 10, 2018. In clashes with the police, two officers were killed. This gave reason to the authorities to declare the incident an attempt by religious radicals to seize power by force.

During the subsequent repression, about 80 people were arrested. Part of them were convicted, and part is still under investigation. The detainees stated that they were tortured, demanding to plead guilty, which caused outrage and discontent among the residents of the city. -03C-