Summary: Hearing 2
- • Mammad Ibrahim’s lawyer pleaded with the court to grant the appeal;
• During his speech, prison official Tajaddin Masimov said Mammad Ibrahim’s release was unadvisable;
• The judicial panel decided not to satisfy the appeal.
On 29 December, Baku Appeal Court chaired by Judge Sahibkhan Mirzayev held a hearing on the appellate complaint of Mammad Ibrahim, jailed advisor to opposition party APFP’s chairman Ali Karimli who having served one-third of his jail sentence sought his transfer to an open prison.
Mammad Ibrahim participated in the hearing.
Mammad Ibrahim’s lawyer Yalchin Imanov argued that the reasons indicated in the decision of Surakhani District Court (Judge Elchin Agayev) on the refusal to release his client were totally unfounded.
The lawyer noted that Mammad Ibrahim had served out one-third of his sentence and, according to the law, should be transferred to an open prison. The lawyer asked the court to grant the appeal.
Next, Tajaddin Masimov, head of the third group at Prison No.16 where Mammad Ibrahim was held, made a speech and said Mammad Ibrahim’s release was unadvisable. He noted that Mammad Ibrahim did not take part in events, behaved insincerely among inmates, did not make up his bed in the prison, and never swept the floor.
Lawyer Yalchin Imanov asked the prison officer to specify the inmates among whom Mammad Ibrahim behaved insincerely. Tajaddin Masimov could not answer the question.
The prosecutor took the floor and said the prison officer’s opinion should be taken as the basis. He asked the court to uphold the decision of the court of first instance.
After a brief deliberation, the judicial panel stated that the appeal was rejected.
Background: Mammad Ibrahim was arrested on 30 September 2015, based on the complaint of Mikayil Guliyev, who had left the APFP shortly before. He was accused of punching Mikayil Guliyev and was charged under Article 221.1 (hooliganism) of the Criminal Code. Later, two more people – Oruj Valiyev and Mahammad Gurbanov – came forward claiming that they had also been hit by Mammad Ibrahim during the incident when they tried to separate those who were arguing. After that, the initial charge against Mammad Ibrahim was changed to a graver one under Article 221.2.2 of Criminal Code. Mammad Ibrahim was sentenced to 3 years in prison by Narimanov District Court’s verdict of 15 March 2016 (Judge Turgay Huseynov). Mammad Ibrahim has rejected the charges and stated that his imprisonment is politically motivated.