Today (27 August), in the Sabail District Court, a court hearing on the lawsuit filed regarding imprisoned “Azadlig” Newspaper Editor-in-Chief Ganimat Zahid’s 200-page manuscript of a book he was writing took place.
Judge Famil Nasibov chaired the hearing. Representatives for both the plaintiff and the defendant participated in the hearing.
The defendant’s representative Agammat Mammadov said that according to legislation every prisoner has the right to write. However, he added that the confiscated manuscripts of of G. Zahid’s book were illegal. “300-page illegal writings were found in Ganimat Zahid’s bag; they were documented and then destroyed. I consider the request of plaintiff side to pay compensation for moral and material damages unfounded,” he said.
During the hearing, G. Zahid’s defense lawyer Elchin Sadigov asked Mammadov questions like how many pages of the manuscripts were taken from Zahid, and whether he was familiar with the content of the confiscated manuscripts. The defendant first said 200 pages, second said 75 pages were taken, and the content contained irrelevant writings about high-ranking official and the president.
Lawyer Elchin Sadigov said that the destruction of the manuscripts was illegal. Even though there were critical thoughts there, they didn’t have the right to destroy them, said Sadigov.
Sadigov then put forth two motions. In his first motion he demanded that the people who signed the documents to destroy the manuscripts come to the court. Judge Nasibov fulfilled the motion. Then, stating that G.Zahid refused to sign the document, Sadigov put forth a motion to bring Zahid to participate in the next hearing. The judge did not fulfill this motion.
The next hearing was scheduled to take place on 11 September at 3:00 pm.