On May 15th Baku Grave Crimes Court held another closed hearing on the case of Tolishi Sado newspaper editor Hilal Mammadov. Representatives of the committee to protect Hilal Mammadov’s rights and members of the public held a peaceful protest outside the court against the closed hearing. They held up posters that read ‘Free Hilal Mammadov!’. The police did not interfere with the action.
In his interview with the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) journalist’s lawyer Ramiz Mammadov said that at today’s hearing the jury discussed the defense’s petition for review of the USB flash drive that was used as evidence against Hilal Mammadov.
“The flash drive was opened at the hearing, but it was impossible to determine when it was accessed by the forensic experts who gave an opinion about its contents. Therefore we filed a new petition for the review of the flash drive on special software. However this petition was denied by the judge” said the lawyer.
The next hearing will be held on May 22, at 10:30am.
Hilal Mammadov is charged with illegal possession of drugs in large quantities (Article 234.4.3/Criminal Code), treason (Article 274/Criminal Code), and incitement to national, racial, social and religious hatred and hostility (Article 283/Criminal Code).