Siraj Kerimli Arrested for "Error"

The accused of drug trade Siraj Kerimli was arrested by mistake instead of his brother, an activist of the party Musavat Faraj Kerimli.

About this S. Kerimli said at yesterday's meeting in Baku Court of Grave Crimes.

Working in the company Azersu, S. Kerimli was detained in the cafe Asiman in the Sabail district of Baku on July 17, 2014. He was seized by two men, which were then presented as witnesses.

Siraj was taken to the police in his own car. The officer of the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (GUBOP) MIA Vidadi Mammadov was driving.

"Along the way, I felt that the man named Orkhan and sitting on my left planted something in my pocket. When we arrived at the police, I realized that I had been planted drugs. They got drugs out of the left shirt pocket. I told them that they were thrown into my pocket by Orkhan in the car. In response, they started beating me, demanding confession. Then another man came and I was taken to another room, given a paper and again demanded recognition in writing. I wrote how it all happened and they began to beat me again," said S. Kerimli.

According to S. Kerimli, he was badly beaten by two healthy athletes, so an ambulance was called. After the departure of the doctors, the torture continued and eventually S. Kerimli was forced to sign that he found the drugs on the street.

On July 18, when S. Kerimli was taken to court, he was openly told that they mistook him with his brother Faraj. From the court he was returned to GUBOP. There he heard the investigator cursing someone on the phone, "You wrongly detained him, I will not accept such cases anymore!" Siraj added that after that the investigators questioned him about the activities of his brother Faraj, who was arrested a week later.

Witnesses for the prosecution spoke next. According to the lawyer Nemat Karimli, the witnesses - police officers and so-called "case witnesses" gave confusing and contradictory statements, avoiding direct answers.

The lawyer asked for summoning employees of the cafe Asiman, Jamil Aliyev and Geyush Hasanov, as witnesses. The judge granted the request and scheduled the next hearing for March 5, the lawyer said.

The trial on Faraj Kerimli is held separately.

Note that Faraj is an activist of Musavat and a blogger, who was active in social networks, criticizing the government and calling for protests against the government. -06B-