On August 12, relatives of the defendants in the “Ganja case” held a picket in front of the Azerbaijani presidential administration building with the slogans: “Freedom for the Ganja prisoners!” “End to frame-up courts!”
They stated that the accused were unfairly arrested and demanded their acquittal by the court. The police suppressed the rally as saying that because of the pandemic, the administration would not accept the protesters.
The action was timed to coincide with today’s meeting on the case at the Baku Court for Serious Crimes.
*On July 3, 2018, an attempt was made on 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 was scheduled for July 10 in front of the Ganja administration building. The same day, riots occurred in the city following which two policemen were killed. That was followed by mass arrests of believers and others.
According to these events, a criminal case was opened against 70 people. The accused received from 6 to 18 years of imprisonment. About 10 people were conditionally released.
The trial of Yunis Safarov and 11 others began in January 2020.
At this stage of the process, the defendants made the final speech.
Earlier, the state prosecutor asked the court to sentence Safarov to life imprisonment, and the rest of the defendants from 15 to 20 years of imprisonment.