A preliminary meeting on the “Ganja case” was held in the Baku Court of Appeal on Friday. The accused of the attempt on the life of the former head of the city of Ganja Elmar Veliyev – Yunis Safarov and 9 other people appeared before the court. Two more defendants in the case were killed during a special operation by security officials.
In court, Yunis Safarov was handcuffed separately from the other accused. However, after the protest of his lawyer Bahruz Bayramov, the handcuffs were removed from Safarov.
The lawyers petitioned to consider the appeal with a partial judicial investigation. In the court of first instance, many of their motions were not granted, and the witnesses for the defense were not heard. However, the lawyer of the victim (Elmar Veliyev) did not agree with this, stating that the court of first instance considered the case “fairly”.
One of the accused, Mahir Azizov, was taken to court with his arm plastered. His mother, Mahbuba Azizova, told reporters that her son had a high fever, but no help was provided to him. “In protest, he injured himself. For two months now he has been suffering, a needle was inserted into his hand. However, he was brought here handcuffed.
We expect justice from the court, the court showed respect for the Armenian military, we expect the same, ”the woman said.
The court, having rejected all the motions of the defense lawyers, set a hearing on the merits for December 15.
* On July 3, 2018, an attempt was made on the life of the then head of the executive power of the city of Ganja Elmar Veliyev. A resident of Ganja Yunis Safarov wounded him and his bodyguard.
After that, a protest rally in front of the Ganja administration building was scheduled for July 10. On the same day, riots broke out in the city, during which two police officers were killed. This was followed by mass arrests of believers and others.
For these events, a criminal case was initiated against 70 people. The defendants received from 6 to 18 years in prison. About 10 people were released on parole. The trial of Yunis Safarov and other defendants began in January 2020.
On August 16 this year, the court sentenced Safarov to life imprisonment, the rest of the accused – from 18 to 20 years in prison. The verdict will come into legal force after the decision of the Baku Court of Appeal.