On February 13th lawyer Khalid Bagirov was forced by three unknown persons to get out of the Nakhchivan-Baku flight at Nakhchivan airport, Bagirov told IRFS today. The men forced the lawyer into a car and drove to the Sadarak District Court, where seized his passport and mobile phone. “I came here to defend the rights of arrested businessmen Mahammad Gurbanov and Nadir Mammadov. But at yesterday’s (February 12) hearing my clients restricted my authority and said that I need not attend the trial. So, I decided to fly back to Baku to attend Hilal Mammadov’s trial” said the lawyer. Bagirov said that at the hearing, where he was forcibly taken, the judge convicted his clients.
Background: Businessman Mahammad Gurbanov and his relative Nadir Mammadov had a conflict with customs officials on November 8, 2012, when the customs officers did not let their goods through the border. According to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, Mammadov assaulted customs officials. Gurbanov and Mammadov were sentenced to 4 and 5 years injail respectively, under Articles 315.1 and 315.2 of the Criminal Code (resistance and use of violence against a representative of authorities).