Protest action of relatives of victims in the "Terter case"

Baku/29.03.23/Turan: A protest action demanding to bring to justice all those involved in the torture of the defendants in the "Terter case" took place today in front of the Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan. The participants of the action expressed dissatisfaction with the course of the trial of the accused of torture of servicemen.

"Four people were brought before the court. From the military unit where my son was tortured to death, only one was brought to court – Rustam Aleskerov, who is not related to the case," said Valida Ahmedova, the mother of the deceased Elchin Guliyev.

"I protest because Teymur Mammadov (commander of the military unit) and Hikmet Hasanov (commander of the corps), who are involved in illegal actions, remained on the sidelines," Ahmedova continued. She believes that the responsibility for crimes against the military is also borne by the country's military prosecutor Khanlar Veliyev and the leadership of the Ministry of Defense.

Another participant of the action, Lieutenant Atabey Rahimov, said that 4 months had passed since the rehabilitation, but the acquitted military did not receive a military ticket, were not reinstated in military ranks and in service.

The protesters demanded the full restoration of the rights of those already acquitted and the release of those who still remain in custody, as well as to punish all those responsible.

The protesters were received by the Prosecutor General's Office. According to one of the participants of the action, they were promised that the Prosecutor General would receive them next week, and those acquitted in the "Terter case" would be reinstated in ranks by the end of this week.

It should be noted that on March 14, the first hearing of the trial of the former commander of the military unit, Colonel Vusal Aleskerov, former chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Rashid Niftaliev, former intelligence officers Ramil Garayev and Rustam Aleskerov took place.

They were charged under  the Articles 145.3 (unlawful imprisonment resulting in death), 293.2 (torture by an official of a state body), 341.2.1 (abuse of official powers by a group of persons or abuse of official powers) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan. Rustam Aleskerov is also charged under the Articles 125 (incitement to suicide) and 126.3 (Intentional infliction of serious injury to health resulting in death) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.

On March 28, the indictment was announced at the trial. According to which, the commander of the military unit, Vusal Aleskerov, "in order to increase his authority before the higher command," used a group of officers "to expose military personnel working for the enemy." To this end, they used numerous types of torture against the victims.

At the trial, three of the four accused officers refused to testify. At the same time, the commander of the military unit, Colonel Vusal Aleskerov said: "I was the person responsible for the execution of orders. In this case, I followed the instructions of the Minister of Defense, the Chief of the General Staff (meaning the former chief Najmeddin Sadikov), the corps commander (already former, Hikmet Hasanov) and the Military Prosecutor's Office. I don't consider myself guilty. I do not intend to testify until the end of the trial."

At the trial, Vusal Aleskerov's testimony was read out to the investigation, where he said that the corps commander Hikmet Hasanov, his deputy Babek Samidli (died after the 2020 war), the country's military prosecutor Khanlar Veliyev and others came to the military unit where the torture was carried out.

The accused officers Rashid Niftaliyev and Ramil Garayev also refused to testify. Another accused long-term soldier, Rustam Aleskerov, said that he was responsible for guarding the 2-storey building where the torture was carried out. He said he was not involved in the torture, although he knew what was going on. He complained that he was being tried instead of those who were actually involved in torture. The next court session will be held on April 4 .

*After the April 2016 battles in Azerbaijan, the military began to be massively involved in the investigation, which was called the "Terter case". Then the Prosecutor General's Office, the State Security Service, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs in a joint statement motivated the arrests by the involvement of suspects in espionage in favor of Armenia.

The public learned about the mass torture of detainees carried out in May-June 2017 only in 2019. According to human rights activists, more than 100 soldiers and officers were tortured, 25 were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment, at least nine people died from torture.

After numerous protests by the relatives of the victims and the demands of human rights activists, the authorities were forced to resume the investigation. In December 2022, 19 convicts in the "Terter case" were released. 10 of them were acquitted, the rest of the cases were dismissed without an acquittal.

There are still several people in prisons in the "Terter case" who have committed themselves under torture. There may be several hundred victims of torture in total.

Several people, including one general, were arrested and imprisoned for these crimes. However, the top leadership of the Ministry of Defense and the Military Prosecutor's Office were not involved.---06B---