Musavat Activist Released in Courtroom (UPDATED)

Baku06.03.19 / Turan: The Garadagh district court of Baku sentenced the head of the youth organization of the Musavat party, Abulfaz Sadigbeyli, to 1 year 11 months of restriction of freedom.

He was released in the courtroom. Within the term of his punishment he will remain at liberty, but under a signed commitment not to leave Baku. The court ordered him to wear an electronic bracelet.

His cousin Asif Sadigov was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months of restriction of freedom. Former employee of Nikoil Bank Kamran Abbasov was liberated from criminal liability. -0-

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2019 March 06 (Wednesday) 13:05:10

Prosecutor asks to condemn Musavat

Baku / 06.03.19 / Turan: At the trial in the Garadagh district court on the case of the head of the youth organization of the Musavat party, Abulfaz Sadigbeyli, his cousin Asif Sadigov and former employee of the Nikoil bank Kamran Abbasov final statements made the prosecutor, lawyers and the self-accused .

Sadigbeyli was arrested on November 21, 2018 on charges of fraud by conspiring with a group of individuals and using fake documents. He is charged with forging a certificate from the Nikoil Bank on repayment of the loan. However, it was documented at the trial that the loan was repaid.

The investigation claimed that Sadigbeyli submitted a false certificate to the traffic police about paying the loan debt in order to pick up the car from bail. This was allegedly helped by a former employee of the bank Asadov and a cousin, a former employee of the traffic police Sadigov.

A representative of Nikoil Bank today confirmed that the damage to the bank was reimbursed, and the institution has no complaints against the accused. However, the prosecutor stated that the guilt of the accused was proven. At the same time, he proposed to remove the accusation from Sadigbeyli under the Article 320 (forgery of documents) due to the lapse of time and condemn it only under Article 178 (fraud) in the form of 2.5 years of imprisonment conditionally. He asked to lift the same punishment from Sadigov, and to stop the criminal prosecution against Abbasov in connection with the compensation of damage to the bank.

The defendants in the last word reiterated their innocence and the absence of corpus delicti. Sadigbeyli noted that he is being persecuted for political reasons. "The investigator asked me more about the activities of the Musavat party, about its youth organization. My father and uncle were arrested earlier, and all of us were arrested for political reasons," Sadigbeyli said. Lawyer Osman Kyazimov asked to acquit Sadigbeyli. The court retired to a meeting. The verdict will be announced in the afternoon.

The judge announced the sentence in the afternoon. It is 1.5 years of conditional imprisonment

In his comments to Turan News Agency, the opposition activist called the sentence illegal. "I am a victim of this case, but I myself am accused of a crime. The reason is my opposition activity. The verdict will be appealed," he said. -21C-