Human rights defenders on political motives in the case of Sadigov and Zeynalli

Baku/12.09.22/Turan: A practice  of persecution and punishment of people known in society on the ordered and fabricated criminal cases has developled in Azerbaijan for years . These facts are reflected in many reports of many international organizations, including the OSCE, the Council of Europe, and the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights.

The arrests of lawyer Elchin Sadigov and journalist Avaz Zeynalli are  another confirmation of this shameful practice, head of the Media Rights Group Khalid Agaliyev told Turan.

In his opinion, it is still difficult to talk about the presence of corpus delicti in this case. “Both were arrested on charges of taking bribes. However, considering a lawyer and a journalist as subjects of this act is wrong from the point of view of law and practice. For for the emergence of corpus delicti under the Article 311 (taking a bribe), the subject must be an official,” the lawyer noted.

Judicial practice clearly confirms this. Thus, Elchin Ismayilli, an employee of the "Azadlyg newspaper", was also accused of taking a bribe a few years ago. However, local courts dismissed the accusation of recognizing the journalist as an official.

Accusing a journalist of taking a bribe may be allowed in special cases. For example, if the editor of a newspaper takes someone for a bribe to work, then we can talk about the presence of corpus delicti. If a journalist covers an event for money, it can be considered as a violation of ethical standards,” the lawyer said.

“Given that Elchin Sadigov is known as a lawyer in cases of human rights violations and pressure on him for his professional activities, as well as the image of Avaz Zeynalli as a journalist critical of the authorities, it can be argued that their criminal prosecution is another fabricated case,” Agaliev said.

Rufat safarov, a co-founder of the human rights organization "Line of Defense",  commenting on the arrest of Sadigov and Zeynalli, noted that since 1993 the legal system of Azerbaijan has been operating as a mechanism of political repression.

“The main goal of the repressive machine in Azerbaijan is to destroy the institution of the Bar. There are few lawyers in the country who are not afraid to get involved in political affairs. Elchin Sadigov is one of them,” Safarov said.

This case shows that if administrative pressure does not work, the lawyer is arrested, he said. It should be noted that on Monday the Prosecutor General's Office officially announced that Avaz Zeynalli and Elchin Sadigov were brought to justice on the basis of an "investigation of information from the media."

“Suspicions arose that the general director of "Khural Yayinlary LLC", Avaz Zeynalli, having promised not to spread offensive information about the former head of Baku Steel Company Rasim Mammadov, in August 2022, through the mediation of lawyer Elchin Sadigov, received 20,000 manats from the entrepreneur’s relatives as a bribe.”

A.Zeynalli and E.Sadigov were charged as defendants under the  Articles 311.3.3 (receiving a  large-scale bribe) and 32.5, 311.3.3 (assistance in taking a  large-scale bribe) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan. They were arrested by court order. --06B--