Lawyer Mehtiyev claims unjustified deprivation of his meetings in the jail with J. Hajiyev

Baku / 01.11.17 / Turan: Lawyer Fakhraddin Mehdiyev cannot meet in prison No.13 with his client, former head of the Board of the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) Jahangir Hajiyev for almost six weeks. "Due to the fact that they do not give me meetings with Jahangir Hajiyev, I cannot meet with two other my clients in the colony," the lawyer told Turan. The lawyer noted that in jail N13 and earlier defenders faced difficulties in meeting with prisoners. "However, if earlier this was motivated by the limited opportunities in the room for meetings of lawyers with clients, now there are no explanations at all," said the lawyer.

On November 1, the lawyer went to the jail in the morning and stayed there for many hours, and did not get a meeting. The lawyer said that he had already complained about "this lawlessness" to the Ministry of Justice, the Penitentiary Service and the ombudsman's office. "However, the Penitentiary Service received a reply that "no restrictions can be imposed on meetings with an attorney, present an identity card - get permission. But even after that, they continue to refuse to meet us," Mehdiyev said.

According to him, Agil Lajev, his other lawyer, cannot meet Hajiyev in the same way.

As the lawyer noted, at the end of September Hajiyev was imprisoned for seven days and declared a hunger strike there. After this, lawyers are not allowed to him and he was deprived of meetings with relatives. Mehdiyev regarded the restrictions on meetings of the defenders with Hajiyev, a flagrant violation of the law and the rights of both the convicted and the lawyers.

It was not possible to receive comments in the Penitentiary Service.

Earlier, the Prison Service stated that Hajiyev had been imprisoned because of a violation of the internal regulations of the colony and the assignment of the right of another prisoner to telephone conversations. In 2015, the IBA revealed major financial irregularities and capital outflows abroad. The former head of the IBA, Jahangir Hajiyev, was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment, but pleaded not guilty and stated that all major loans were allocated with the consent of the supervisory board. Along with him, former heads of several IBA affiliates were sentenced to imprisonment. -05B06-