The protest action of the accused on the "Nardaran case" at the trial in the Court of Appeal

Baku/20.07.17/Turan: The next meeting of the Baku Court of Appeal on the "Nardaran case" on July 20 was thwarted because of the protests of the accused. The figurants of this case are the leader of the movement "Muslim Unity" Tale Bagirzade, 16 more believers, as well as the deputy chairman of the People's Front Party Fuad Gahramanli. They were arrested in November-December 2015 in Nardaran, and sentenced for long periods on charges of preparing forcible change of the state system, illegal storage of weapons and other serious crimes. In the court of first instance, these charges, according to the monitoring of human rights organizations, were not confirmed. The defendants claimed that they gave confessions under torture. International organizations condemned the unfair trial. Fuad Gahramanli is recognized as a "prisoner of conscience", he is not involved in the events in Nardaran.

During the meeting of July 20 under the chairmanship of Judge Amir Bayramov, speeches of lawyers continued. Javad Javadov drew the court's attention to the fact that Tale Bagirzade was kept in prisons in small breaks since May 2011. The lawyer said that Bagirzade had twice been convicted on far-fetched charges, and the present case is a continuation of his prejudiced attitude towards him.

Lawyer Fariz Namazli said that there is no sense in defense speeches at all. "We say, you listen. Then you go to the advisory room to drink tea, and then come here and announce ready solutions," Namazli said. The lawyer said that the defendants are not guilty of anything - they just wanted to live in a democratic free country, fighting for justice and honesty. "Do not think that by arresting them, you will force these people to turn away from this path. Deciding to be just and conscientious," said the lawyer. Then the accused Agil Ismayilov, Ibrahim Khudaverdiyev and Jahad Babakishizade made speeches. The judge interrupted them when they criticized Ilham Aliyev.

Taleh Bagirzadeh in his turn said that "nowhere is it seen that an authoritarian regime would go along a democratic path." In his view, authoritarianism leads to revolutions. "Today the authorities are afraid of the revolution, they are even afraid of the word" revolution, "said the lawyer. After the break, the judge interrupted the speeches of the accused and gave the floor to the prosecutor for the final word. This aroused the indignation of the accused, and they began to throw shoes and plastic water bottles at the judges' side. The judge interrupted the process indefinitely. -35C06--