Lawyers call on the court to acquit NIDA activists

Concluding speech of the lawyers on the background of heightened security measures  in the case of NIDA activists continued today in the Baku Serious Crimes Court.  The entire quarter was cordoned  by police, and nobody was admitted there, neither cars no pedestrians.

More than 100 supporters of the activists  gathered in front of the entrance to the court, who traditionally met  the accused with applause. Parents were asked to stop their hunger strike. "If we stop the hunger strike , it means a year in custody was in vain," said Mamed Azizov. The lawyer Fahraddin Mehdiev said in his speech that the preliminary investigation was biased and not objective. "Price  of evidence  is equal to zero,"  he said.

He also said that the primary testimonies by Mamed Azizov, Shahin Novruzlu and  Bakhtiyar Guliyev can not be considered evidence, because they were obtained by psychological and physical pressure.

"If there is a crime, it should be a socially dangerous act, there would be victims. It is bad if there is no crime, but a punishment providing for 64 years of imprisonment for  the eight accused," said the lawyer.

NIDA rejects violence and is committed to democracy and the rule of law, reminded  the lawyer, and  call on the court to make a verdict of acquittal.

Another lawyer Jawad Javadli said that "the youth demands from the court  not charity, but  justice, because they are innocent." He noted that the MNS illegally intervened  the correspondence of young people on facebook. MNS could not  have done it without the password  of users. "This means that the MNS defendants unlawfully possessed the  passwords , which is a violation of the right of privacy," said the lawyer.

The lawyer Elton Guliyev expressed solidarity with his colleagues, saying that there is no  evidence of a crime. He regretted that repeated violations of the preliminary investigation and the trial, and the majority of applications were rejected. Thus, the defense was not informed of what the operational activities were carried out to arrest young people , and the medical report of injuries of  Shahin Novruzlu was wrong.

In addition, the MNS has violated the presumption of innocence , extending two days after the arrest report, where detainees were presented as having committed a crime. "This statement was imposing public an  opinion that young are drug addicted,"  said the lawyer. As for the charges against the

"Molotov cocktails", syringes with gunpowder on the bottles seized from Guliyev , were attached to them later. And drugs  were planted to  Guliyev’s wardrobe  between the first and second searched.

I am convinced that  seven of eight people  have been arrested for nothing, and it is quite unclear why Ilkin Rustamzade  was arrested,"  said the lawyer, asking acquit all defendants. Lawyers Fariz Namazly and Namik Hajiyev also called the court to acquit. The court trial will continue on April 25.

Earlier, the prosecutor offered to sentence  the defendants to prison terms ranging from 6.5 to 8.5 years.

Young people were arrested in March and May 2013 on charges of plotting riots during a protest on March 10 against the soldiers deaths. Amnesty International recognized all the accused “prisoners of conscience.”—16d--