The sentence for religious activist Fagan Mammadov was read out at Baku Court of Grave Crimes on June 7. The court found him guilty under Article 234.4.3 (drug trafficking on a large scale) of the Criminal Code and sentenced him to six years of imprisonment. The prosecutor asked to sentence him to seven years of imprisonment.
Recall that Mammadov was detained on September 2, last year by officers of the Main Department for Combating Organized Crime (MDCOC) of the Interior Ministry. According to investigators, four bags of the drug methamphetamine with a total weight of 8 grams were found in Mammadov.
However, the defense argues that the investigation was conducted with numerous violations. Thus, the personal inspection was conducted not at the place of detention, but in the MDCOC.
There is no reliable evidence in the case, except for Mammadov’s confession given in the MDCOC under torture, said the lawyer in his closing statement.
In his last statement, the activist also denied the charges as saying that he was detained when he and two other activists were taking shirts with the slogan “Ya Hüseyn” (praising Imam Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Mohammed) from Baku to Ganja.
According to Mammadov, the police threw him on the floor, kicked him and electrocuted his body. One of the activists detained with Mamedov was released, while the other, Arif Jafarov, was sentenced to two years of imprisonment on drug charges.
Human rights activists point out that Fagan Mammadov actively helped the families of the defendants of the “Ganja case” in transferring the aid collected by the believers to the prisoners.