On Tuesday, the Sabail Court of Baku began considering the complaint of Tofik Yagublu, a member of the National Council of Democratic Forces, about the refusal of the prosecutor’s office to open a criminal case on the fact that he was beaten by the police.
Recall that Yagublu was detained during a protest in Baku on December 1, 2021. A few hours later, he was released in a badly beaten state. According to Yagublu, he was beaten in the 9th police department of the Sabail region, and later on the way to the village of Alyat (70 km from Baku), where he was taken by people in civilian clothes.
There were huge bruises on Yagublu’s face. However, the prosecutor’s office considered that Yagublu had inflicted bodily harm on himself at the police station.
Today, the defense petitioned to summon to trial and hear the medical examiner who gave an opinion on the injuries. The expert stated that he had bodily injuries, not ruling out the possibility that Yagublu could inflict these injuries on himself.
“It is necessary to listen to him and ask how I could inflict such severe injuries on myself, up to bruises inside the eye?” Yagublu said at the trial.
The second application was due to the fact that the prosecutor’s office in its decision argued that it was impossible to view the CCTV footage from the police station, as they had not been preserved. The defense requested that a police representative be summoned to court to explain how this could be.
The court granted the motion to summon the medical examiner to court. The second petition will be considered at the next meeting on March 10.