Lawyer Omar Mamedov calls on the court to acquit him

At the trial in the Baku  Serious Crimes Court  in the case of the facebook activists Omar  Mamedov,  accused of drug trafficking,  the defendant's lawyer Alaif Hasanov was given the floor.  Just like another lawyer Khalid Bagirov, Hasanov    noted  the political motives  of the prosecution activist,  absence of evidence of his guilt,  and asked to justify the young man.

On July 18, the prosecutor offered to condemn Mamedov to six years imprisonment.  Hasanov said that Mamedov  is persecuted for  being one of administrators  on a satirical pages in Facebook "Lists of AzTV" and "Heydar Aliyev".

The lawyer  noted with regret that the court did not grant his request for the questioning of the staff of the Chief Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (CDCOC) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who blackmailed the defendant and his father in order to deny a young man from political activity, causing them to the police, illegally seized computer activist. The Court also rejected the petition to request a mobile operator data on phone calls to Mamedov,  that would reveal that he calls of  CDCOC  employees.

In addition, according to the lawyer, there are a lot of procedural violations.

So, in the protocol of detention was not specified for how long Mamedov  was detained. After his detention he was not allowed to contact a lawyer whom he trusts.

The decision on detention  contains a ground  on the possibility of Mamedov’s  hiding from the investigation, although these reasons relate to the issue of remand, which is within the competence of the court, not the police.

Further investigation alleges that Mamedov was arrested on operational information that an activist for a long time was engaged in drug trafficking. How could the police state this, if  Mamedov was studying at Cyprus?

The decision to conduct drug testing  was conducted without submitting copies of this document, and he was not given opportunity to ask for an alternative examination. Drug testing, on the one hand, determined that Mamedov is not a user of drugs, and  on the other hand,  recommended to  register him.

The prosecution alleged   statement  on sale of drugs  by  Mamedov  is based on nothing.

Even in his first testimony, obtained through physical violence,   Mamedov did not say about selling  drugs. Therefore, the lawyer asked on what basis he is accused of selling drugs. Finally, counsel asked the court to acquit Mamedov.

The judge Eldar Mikayilov scheduled the next hearing,  with a closing address by  Mamedov  himself,  for  July 4 at 14:00.

*  Nineteen -year-old Omar Mamedov is the leader of the youth movement "Akhyn" ("Flow") and member of the "Civil Solidarity" party.  After his arrest, he returned to the NIDA Movement.

Mamedov was active blogger and one of the administrators of the page "Lists of AzTV" in Facebook ((https://www.facebook.com/pazaztv?fref=ts), which housed the cartoons, collages, comments ridiculing the vices of the Azerbaijani authorities. -06B –