Some courts comply with the presidential order on humanization, others do not

Baku/21.10.22/Turan:  On February 10, 2017, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed the Decree "On streamlining activities in the penitentiary sphere, humanizing the policy of punishment and expanding the use of alternative types of punishment and procedural measures of coercion that are not related to isolation from society." However, the presidential order is applied selectively, as can be seen from the lawsuit brought by businessman Afgan Zeynalov against his employee Nelli Fabrichnaya. The case is being considered in the Baku Serious  Crimes Court, the last Article about this trial was published in Turan under the heading "Witnesses do not confirm the theft of money in “Murov."

The court gave the parties various opportunities to influence the proceedings

The lawsuit of the owner of the “Murov” company, Afgan Zeynalov, who had previously been convicted by the Lankaran court on serious crimes for embezzlement of public funds, is being considered. He accuses the head of the HR department of his own  “Murov” company, Nelly Fabrichnaya, of embezzling 720,000 manats, which, according to Zeynalov, he found in a garbage dump and was allegedly stored in a safe ... in the apartment of Nelly Fabrichnaya's father. She is charged under  the Article 179.4 of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.

Nelly denies this accusation. The volumes of the criminal case are replete with dubious allegations by the prosecution. Accused N. Fabrichnaya could attend the court while at large. But the prosecution succeeded in placing her in the detention center in Kurdakhani, where the young woman found herself behind bars for the first time. And her relatives were sentenced to bring her food parcels from Baku.

The factory was placed in a detention center at the request of Zeynalov so that she could not influence the investigation, says the lawyer for the prosecution, Irada Javadova. After the last court session on October 20, A. Zeynalov was talking on the street with the judge and the prosecutor of the  trial,  the father of the defendant told Turan. Perhaps, in this case, there was no “influence on the court”, and the men discussed the weather. But it is clear that the two sides of the trial are placed in unequal conditions, and the presence of a woman who does not consider herself guilty in a cell since September 19, 2022 is contrary to the presidential decree on humanity.

Unlike the Baku Serious Crimes Court, on September 8, 2021, the Khatai Court of Baku acted humanely and ruled to place Fabrichnaya under house arrest, dismissing the lawsuit demanding her imprisonment in a cell.

The Baku Court of Appeal acted even more humanely,  and on March 31, 2022, canceled the house arrest of Fabrichnaya and transferred her under police supervision.

On June 18, investigator Yusif Mehdizadeh, referring to the completion of the preliminary investigation, drew up a protocol, writing that defense lawyer Gazanfar Rzayev got acquainted with the ten-volume criminal file in two days. To which the lawyer Rzayev objected to the investigator, informing in writing that numerous petitions were submitted to him, and according to the law, the investigation cannot limit the lawyer in familiarizing himself with the case.

However, on June 28, 2022, Fabrichnaya was illegally arrested, the lawyer believes. But on June 30, the Nasimi Court of Baku overturned the investigator's decision to impose a preventive measure on Fabrichnaya.

Then the prosecutor's office of the Nasimi district stood up for the investigator. The Baku Court of Appeal (BCA) rejected the opinion of the Nasimi prosecutor's office. The BCA recalled the precedents of the European Court of Human Rights, the norms of national and international law, and ruled that there were no reasons to keep a woman in a pre-trial detention center. He pointed out that there were no grounds for confining her in a cell.

However, for formal reasons rejected by the Baku Court of Appeal, and at the request of Afgan Zeynalov, Nelli is being held in custody. Together with her, in fact and undeservedly, her family is serving their sentence, as usual, visiting Kurdakhani to give the woman food.

The witness is unaware of the reason for the incredible charity

On October 20, the trial in the Baku  Serious Crimes Court, observed by a Turan correspondent, continued. The judge heard the testimony of a witness, housewife Sevinj Khalilabadi, who reported on a sharp improvement in the material well-being of a cleaning lady at “Murov”, Mehriban Atakishiyeva.

According to Khalilabadi, Atakishiyeva lived very poorly, in debt, unable to pay for the treatment of her sick son. But suddenly it changed before my eyes. With 50,000 manat, which, according to Khalilabadi, Nelly gave her, the cleaner made repairs to the house, closed the debt at the pawnshop, bought her son a car and twice went to the resort in Guba and Nabran.

Later, unexpectedly, at one of the meetings, the head of the company, Zeynalov, demanded that Atakishiyeva return the money taken from her to Nelly, a witness said in court.

At that moment, she categorically rejected, as untrue, the statement from the place of Afgan Zeynalov, who said in the courtroom that Atakishiyeva was ready to formalize the fact of a debt of 400 thousand dollars in a notary. A. Zeynalov did not find anything to object to her.

The witness also said that she was surprised when, during the investigation, she was presented with an audio recording of her conversation with the company's employees, in which she allegedly reported on the disputed money. Khalilabadi did not consent to the audio recording and does not know when and how her conversation was recorded.

On this hearing on Thursday ended.

Non-judicial matters

We hope that Turan will receive answers to its questions in the next court hearings. Why are such large sums (720,000 manats, according to A. Zeynalov) stored in his own safe, installed in the house of Vyacheslav Fabrichny, a person who is not related to the “Murov” company?

Why did Zeynalov, who had found 720 thousand manats in a garbage dump, has been registered in the apartment of V. Fabrichny? With these amount, he could buy a two-story villa in Baku, and would not live in a rented apartment.

Why does Nelly Fabrichnaya spend 50,000 manats for the pleasure of the cleaner Atakishiyeva?

According to Article 186.1 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the person who discovered the lost item must immediately report the find to the person who lost it, its owner, authorized person or, if the owner is unknown, transfer the find to the police. It is not clear from the materials of the investigation that Zeynalov handed over the 720,000 manats he found to the police. How does the court regard this fact? And what are the legal implications of this?

The  trial is ongoing…