The trial of the head of Anar Mammadov TSMVOD

Baku/05.03.14/Turan : In the Baku Court of Grave Crimes chaired by Rauf Aliyev, the trial continues over the head of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Training Center (TSMVOD) Anar Mammadli, executive director of the NGO, Bashir Suleymanli and the head of the Public Association for International Cooperation Volunteers (PAICV), Elnur Mammadov.

All of them are charged under the Criminal Code 5 - tax evasion, illegal business, abuse of office, embezzlement on a large scale and official forgery.

A criminal case was opened at the end of October 2013. Mammadli was taken into custody on 17^th December and two others are under house arrest.

At the trial on 5^th May, the victims testimonies continued. One of them, Ehtiram Muradov, said that he participated in projects of TSMVOD from 2007 to 2010 as a regional project coordinator for Tartar, Agdam, Barda, Lankaran and Mingechevir.

Muradov said he has no claims against the accused. Responding to questions from participants in the trial, he stated that he had received funds for the projects and signed the amounts.

Further, Hasan Hasanov spoke as a victim. He said he was a lawyer for PAICV and was involved in a project to monitor the presidential elections in 2013. He said he signed for 456 manats, but he was paid 100 manats.

On the question of the defense, asking if he appealed to the court in connection with the violation of his rights, Hasanov said he had not. Another question of the defense as to whether or not Hasanov had used  the 100 manat and rented an apartment was removed by the judge.

During the hearing, it became clear that Hasanov did not present TSMVOD and PAICV with his graduate degree and was dismissed from the project in mid- September 2013 for being unable to cope with his responsibilities.

Hasanov also argued that the regional coordinators were dissatisfied with their remuneration. Hasanov mentioned the coordinator of the Sabirabad region, Sahib Rustamli. However, the latter called Hasanov "the accuser."

It should be noted, that at the previous meeting Rustamli also testified and said he did not consider himself  a victim. The trial will continue on 6^th May at 10.30.

Anar Mammadli is recognized as a "prisoner of conscience" by Amnesty International. -06C-