On May 14 Anar Mammadov and other defendants in the case will be given floor

In Baku Court of Grave Crimes chaired by Rauf Aliyev  Trial in the case of Anar Mammadov, the head of the Election Monitoring  and Democracy studies center (EMDSC), and Suleyman Bashirli,  executive director of the NGO, and Elnur Mammadov, the head of the Public Association for International Cooperation  of Volunteers (PAICV)   is ongoing in the Baku Serious Crimes Court. All of them are charged under  five Articles of  the Criminal Code - tax evasion , illegal business , abuse of office , embezzlement on a large scale, and official forgery. A lawsuit was filed at the end of October 2013.   On December 17 Mammadov was taken into custody, and two others are under house arrest. According to the lawyer Irada Javadova , more witnesses were  questioned at a meeting on May 12 at the request of the defense, in particular: forensic expert at the Center of Justice who gave  a conclusion  based on the acts of verification during the preliminary investigation. According to the lawyer, the investigation misdirected an expert.

Other witnesses testified that they had participated in projects  of the EMDSC and PAICV,  got wages on the earlier agreed conditions,  and  did not have  any claims against the defendants.

On  May 12 employees of the  Tax Ministry and the Finance Ministry who , inspected the activities of the projects of  these  NGOs , were questioned.  However, answering the questions of the accused , and lawyers, they  did not make it clear what was  meant  under  illegal activities. Hearing  the accused is expected  on 14 May.

Amnesty International recognized  Mammadli as a "prisoner of conscience."