Prosecutor Offers to Soften Punishment to Defendants of Ganja Case

Baku / 02.08.19 / Turan: At the trial in the court of appeal in the case of 11 defendants in connection with the Ganja events of July 2018, the prosecutor proposed to mitigate the punishment of the defendants.

Note that on August 1, the parents of the accused went to the presidential administration of Azerbaijan to meet with the presidential aide for security and work with law enforcement agencies Fuad Aleskerov. But they failed to meet him personally.

Today, the parents of those arrested, meeting in front of the Baku Court of Appeal, made an appeal to President Ilham Aliyev, urging him not to allow "punishment of innocent people."

Today, state prosecutor Jeyhun Aliyev spoke at the trial.

He stated that the court proved the guilt of the defendants.

At the same time, the prosecutor suggested that the defendants should be reclassified the charges under Art. 315.2 (use of violence against the police representative, dangerous to health and life) to 315.1 (use of violence against the police representative) and leave unchanged the charge under Article 220.1 (organization or participation in mass riots) of the Criminal Code.

Note that while Article 315.2 provides for a punishment from 3 to 7 years of imprisonment, then Article 315.1 provides up to 3 years in prison.

With this in mind, the prosecutor proposed to reduce the terms of punishment to Maarif Hajiyev, Ruslan Hasanov, Nizami Akperov, Togrul Verdiyev and Seymur Aliyev to 5.5 years of imprisonment, Shahlar Rzayev, Tural Bayramov, Kamal Maharramov, Araz Hasanov and Orkhan Yagnaliyev to 5 years, and Vagif Ashrafov - to 4.5 years in prison.

The court of first instance sentenced the defendants in this case for terms ranging from 7.5 to 9 years in prison.

In turn, the lawyers, stating that the defendants' guilt was not proven, asked the court to acquit the defendants.

The trial will continue on 15 August.

* On July 3, 2018, in Ganja, an attempt was made on the then head of the city, Elmar Veliyev. A native of Ganja, Younis Safarov wounded him and his bodyguard.

After that, in social networks, a protest action against Veliyev was scheduled for July 10 in front of the Ganja administration building.

On July 10, the MIA reported on the unrest in Ganja, during which two police officers were killed. Following this, mass arrests were held among believers and others.

On July 31, 2019, the Prosecutor General Zakir Garalov told a meeting in this department that 29 members of an organized criminal group were brought to criminal responsibility in connection with the attempt on E. Veliyev, and another 11 people were put on the international wanted list.

On the events of July 10, the investigation was completed and 8 criminal cases were filed against 60 people. The defendants were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. -21C06-