The material of the criminal case launched in connection with the death of journalist and Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) chairman Rasim Aliyev has been sent to court, the Baku City Prosecutor’s Office said on December 22.
According to the Public Prosecutor’s office, the bill of indictment has been approved and referred to Baku’s Grave Crimes Court for review. According to the bill of indictment, Kanan Madatov, Jamal Mammadov, Samir Mustafayev, Elshan Ismayilov and Arif Aliyev are charged with Article 126.3 of the Criminal Code (deliberate causing of serious harm to health, resulting in the death of the victim). In addition to being charged under Article 126.3, Elshan Ismayilov and Arif Aliyev are charged under Article 177.1 (theft) . These five individuals have been captured on the footage retrieved from the surveillance cameras.
In the meantime, the criminal case on charging the Gabala football club member Javid Huseynov under Articles 307.1 (failure to inform about a serious crime, despite of being aware of its preparation or committal) and 307.2
(concealment of a serious crime without a prior promise) is investigated under separate proceedings and is about to be referred to court, too.
Asabali Mustafayev, the lawyer defending the late journalist’s rights, said that their motion to demand probe into medical personnel’s involvement into Aliyev’s death, was rejected.
“In the motion, we stated we had evidence which points out that medical personnel had acted negligently. The doctors should have kept the journalist’s condition under constant control. Who was in charge for observing and recording changes in Aliyev’s status, monitoring vital signs? Why medical examinations that would normally be conducted, did not take place? Although these questions remain open, our motion has not been granted. I am going to file another motion on medical workers’ negligence in court,” the lawyer said.