Prosecutor Asks to Sentence Football Player Javid Huseynov to Four Years

Today the Sabail District Court considered the case of the football player Javid Huseynov and the state prosecutor held the final speech. The prosecutor offered to sentence the accused to four years in prison.

Huseynov is held liable in connection with the journalist Rasim Aliyev’s murder. However, he does not pass as a member of the crime, but as a person who did not report about the crime planned and known to him.

Earlier, five people were convicted, including a cousin of the footballer, immediately found guilty of Rasim Aliyev’s death.

The prosecutor urged the court to convict Huseynov under articles 307.1 (not reporting an imminent serious crime) and 307.2 (harboring a serious crime).

As the footballer’s lawyer Adem Mammadov told Turan, the defense does not agree with the prosecution.

Huseynov did not know about the participation of his relatives in the attack on the journalist, and learned about it from the press. This was confirmed by the court and a new witness Aydin Makhmudov - friend of the late journalist. The lawyer also pointed out that the punishment proposed by the prosecutor is too severe. In judicial practice of Azerbaijan, as a rule, the principle of absorption of a smaller punishment by a larger one is applied and the terms of different articles are not cumulative. Thus, according to Article 307.1 a maximum sentence is 2 years of imprisonment, and according to Article 307.2, it is 3 years. Therefore, the lawyer said the case is "politicized."

The next court session is scheduled for 12:00 on 16 May.

Recall that the conflict between Aliyev and Huseynov arose because of the journalist's critical status on Facebook about the player who demonstrated an obscene gesture in an interview with foreign journalists. After that, the journalist was threatened by Huseynov’s cousin. Huseynov himself called the journalist and came to terms with him. The deceased said before his death that Huseynov invited him to reconciliation, but when he came to the meeting, he was severely beaten. It happened on August 8 and the next day Rasim Aliyev died in hospital. Five men participating in the beating received sentences of 9 to 13 years each. -06B-