The trial in the case of the PFPA members continued the examination of the evidence

Baku/24.05.21/Turan: The trial in the case of the accused  of the rally held in support of the Azerbaijani army in Baku on July 14, 2020 continued by the approval of documents for the accused in the Baku Court of Appeal, chaired by the  head of the  Sabail court, Agamala Gafarov. The next  trial is scheduled for May 26. Video evidence was presented at today's trial.

“It turned out that the investigative group,“building up” the criminal case, does not know in which direction the doors of the Milli Mejlis were opened. Throughout the  trial, all the witnesses said that the doors of the Milli Mejlis building opened  inward when the crowd pressed them against the doors. However, the "video evidence" of the prosecution clearly showed that the doors of the Milli Mejlis did not open inward, but vice versa,” said the accused Ayaz Maharramli. According to him, there is not a single frame in the video that would confirm the accusation.

The group of defendants includes activists of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) Mamed Ibrahim, Fuad Gahramanli, Ayaz Maharramli, Bakhtiyar Imanov, 2 members of the Muslim Unity Movement and six others.

The defendants are charged under  the Articles of the Criminal Code: 186 (intentional destruction or damage to property), 233 (organization of actions that entailed violation of public order) and 315 (use of violence against a government official).

In this criminal case, thereare 37 accused,  and 22 victims. All of the accused who were detained in November-December last year were released under police supervision.

Of the accused, 16 are activists of the Popular Front Party, 2 of the Muslim Unity Movement, and 1 of the Azerbaijan Movement for Democracy and Prosperity. Among the accused is the former Minister of Internal Affairs of Nakhchivan Siyavush Mustafayev. The rest are non-party.

On July 14, 2020 in Baku, by the morning of July 15, the police dispersed a rally organized by thousands of people in support of the hostilities on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. During the dispersal of the rally, the police used water cannons, tear gas and batons.

So, at night a group of protesters burst into the parliament building, the police car was overturned. At this time, the police took the protesters out of the parliament building and a shootout ensued with the police.

In connection with the incident, a  lawsuit was filed, numerous people were arrested.

Although the authorities do not report the number of those arrested, human rights activists estimate that the number exceeds a hundred. Many of them were administratively punished.

According to the PFPA, 45 activists of this party were arrested in a criminal case initiated on the fact of an incident that occurred on July 14 during a rally in support of the Azerbaijani army.

“Serious charges have been brought against 16 of them. 15 people were arrested administratively, 14 people were interrogated as witnesses and released,” the report says.

The Popular Front Party and a number of other political organizations consider the arrests a "political order" .- 03-