The trial of the first group in the case of the "Karabakh manifestation"

Baku/04.03.21/Turan: On March 4, the Sabail District Court began considering a case against a group of 12 people brought to justice for being involved in a rally in support of the army in Baku on July 14-15 last year. The trial is being held in the Baku Court of Appeal   chaired by Agamall Gafarov.  The accused are four members of the Presidium of the Popular Front Party - Bakhtiyar Imanov, Ayaz Maharramov, Fuad Gahramanli and Mamed Ibrahim.

After the indictment was announced, testimonies were heard from eight accused, including Mamed Ibrahim and Ayaz Maharramov. Both denied the accusations, describing them as politically motivated. They stressed that they did not participate in the action at all. The other defendants either did not admit their guilt or partially agreed with the charges. The next trial is scheduled for 10:30 on March 10.

In this case, 37 people are accused, including 16 activists from the Popular Front Party, 2 from the Muslim Unity movement and 1 member of the Movement for Democracy and Welfare. Due to the large number of defendants, the defendants were divided into three groups of 12 people each.

All were charged under the following Articles of the Criminal Code: 127 (intentional infliction of minor bodily harm), 186 (damage or destruction of other people's property), 233 (violation of public order) and 315 (use of force against a police officer). They face up to 7 years in prison.

* The action on July 14-15, 2020 was spontaneous; tens of thousands of people took part in it, who marched through the streets of Baku all night, demanding from the authorities to start a war in Karabakh. The reason for this was the attack of Armenians and the murder of several Azerbaijani soldiers in Tovuz on July 12.

A group of protesters broke into the parliament building, after which arrests began. At the same time, the official propaganda accused the PFPA of using the situation for political purposes.

After the end of the Second Karabakh War in November 2020, the preventive measure for those arrested was changed and they were released from custody. –03B06-