Well-known Lawyer Reprimanded

Baku / 25.02.19 / Turan: The Presidium of the Bar Association of Azerbaijan reprimanded lawyer Elchin Sadigov, as Sadigov wrote on his Facebook page.

He drew attention to the fact that the decision was made while he was on a trip abroad.

Sadigov was punished on the basis of a complaint to the Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan. It was filed in September 2018. Then, the Prosecutor General"s Office pushed Sadigov away from Yunis Safarov"s defense (the man is accused of an attempt to assassinate Ganja"s chief executive Elmar Veliyev), accusing him of "psychological influence" on Safarov with the aim of giving "false testimony".

Removing Sadigov, the prosecutor's office referred to the private conversation of the lawyer with Safarov, which should have been confidential.

Later, another document was added to the case - a letter allegedly written by Safarov on August 28 to the Prison Service. In it, Safarov said that he was not tortured, and it just seemed to the lawyer, who offered to file a complaint.

In December of last year, at a meeting of the Disciplinary Commission, the lawyer requested that the prosecutor's office ask for evidence that such a letter was from the detention center - records from the registration book, postal data, transaction numbers. In addition, Safarov himself, in testimony of September 1, confirmed to the investigation that he had been tortured.

Then the Disciplinary Commission did not take any decision.

Commenting on the decision of the Presidium of the Bar Association, Sadigov drew attention to the fact that this structure did not investigate how the Prosecutor General"s office could receive an audio recording of the meeting between the lawyer and his client, while it was confidential.

Sadigov pointed out reprisals against lawyers specializing in human rights issues.

He noted that the Bar instead of the termination of the proceedings on the unjustified complaint punished him and this demonstrates the wide possibilities of pressure from the prosecutor"s office on the Bar.

Sadigov said that upon returning to the country, he would appeal to President Ilham Aliyev.

In recent years, many well-known lawyers were excluded from the Bar Association, such as Namizad Safarov, Khalid Bagirov, Aslan Ismailov, Alaif Hasanov, Elchin Namazov, Yalchin Imanov, Intigam Aliyev, Muzaffar Bakhyshov, Annagi Hajibeyli, Farhad Mehdiyev, Irada Javadova, and others. ------16d-