The court rejected the applications of the defense Faig Amirov

Baku / 08/31/17 / Turan: A preliminary meeting in the case of financial director of Azadlig newspaper Faig Amirov, convicted for 3.5 years of imprisonment, was held today at the Baku Appeals Court (BAC).

The trial was chaired by Judge Vagif Mursagulov. The lawyer Aqil laidjev was not allowed to the trial, despite he was involved in the protection of Amirov from the very beginning.

The judge explained this by the fact that the lawyer did not submit a separate warrant to the court.

However, according to the lawyer, there is an order in the case materials and this document is valid for all instances. In the law there is no requirement for the appellate instance, to submit a separate document.

Lawyer Fakhraddin Mehdiyev put forward a number of motions at the preliminary session.

In particular, he petitioned to change the measure of restraint.

The lawyer pointed out that Amirov is positively characterized, has respect in the society, he has two young children in charge, has a permanent place of residence.

"But most importantly, he has serious health problems. Faig suffers from liver and gallbladder diseases. The detention under arrest aggravated his chronic illness. In addition, the crimes charged to Amirov are less serious and the accusations have nothing to do with him. This is a custom prejudiced case. Amirov was arrested for political reasons," Mehdiyev said.

The second petition was related to the need to examine the complaint with the investigation - interrogation of witnesses, investigation of evidence,) continued the lawyer.

Further, he pointed out that in the car of Amirov was searched without his participation, and disks and books concerning Fethullah Gulen were found. However, the persons indicated in the search protocol, as understood, were not interrogated in court.

Judges dismissed all applications and scheduled substantive hearings on 14 September.

Amirov was detained on August 20, 2016 on charges of inciting inter-religious and ethnic hatred.

On April 17, 2017, new charges were brought against him for tax evasion and abuse.

However, as a result of the preliminary investigation, articles 168.1 and 308 were dropped.

On July 24, Amirov was sentenced by the Sabail District Court to 3.3 years of imprisonment and a fine of 39,000 manats. Amirov was recognized as a human rights activist by political prisoners. The International Organization for the Protection of Journalists "Reporters Without Borders" condemned Amirov's arrest and called for removing "ridiculous accusations" from him.- 03B06--