Today, 24 June, in the Sabail District Court, under the chairmanship of judge Kamala Amirkhanova, a preliminary hearing was held on the lawsuit of Zulfugar Kheyirkhabar against Karvan tea house owner Zaur gafarov and Ministry of Emergency Cases employee, Aziz Ahmadov, under article 221 (hooliganism) of the Criminal Code.
Zulfugar Kheyirkhabar, who was injured, and his representative Fariz Namazli, and defendants Zaur Gafarov and Aziz Ahmadov took part in the hearing.
F.Namazli said that during the investigation into the case, Zulfugar Kheyirkhabar appealed to the investigator several times and filed a motion to involve the defendants under article 163 (interference in legal work of journalists) and to bring charges against Ministry of Emergency Cases employee Aziz Ahmadov under article 309.2 (abuse duty authorities using force) of the Criminal Code. However, the motion was not fulfilled.
Judge Amirkhanova said that they were not considering the motions yet because this was preliminary hearing. The next hearing on this case is now scheduled to take place on 2 June at 10:00 a.m.
On 18 February 2010, Zulfugar Kheyirkhabar, who was working at Salamnews agency at the time, and wanted to prepare reportage regarding explosion at Karvan teahouse, was insulted by Zaur Gafarov, who claimed he was the owner of the café. Gafarov hindered his work as a journalist. Ministry of Emergency Cases employee Aziz Ahmadov pushed and hit him and distanced him from the area. A criminal case was opened on this incident in the Sabail District Police Office Investigation Department.
SalamNews Russian language agency (salamnews.org) began operating in November 2009.