THE TRIAL PROCESS OF THE BLOGGER HAS STARTED

The religious blogger Rashad Ramazanov’s court process was held on September 4^th under the chairmanship of the judge Alisultan Osmanov at the Baku Court of Grave Crimes. The blogger in his statement announced that the reason of his arrest was his political activities and his attitude towards the events happening in the sociopolitical sphere of the country which he expressed through the social networks.

Afterwards, the statements of the eye witnesses and the police officers who conducted the arrest were heard. İslam Agabeyov, İbrahim Kazimov, Eldar Qadimov and Elchin Tagıyev in their statements noted that Ramazanov was stopped around the 20 Yanvar subway station on the day of the event, after the information on his illegal narcotics trade entered the Department for Combating Organized Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They conducted a search on him in the presence of the eye witnesses Elkhan Mammadov and Farid Guliyev, and found a bag of heroin in his left back pocket. Ramazanov said that the witness Ibrahim Kazimov wasn’t there on the day of the event. Then the witnesses answered the questions asked by the public prosecutor and the defense lawyer.

Background: Blogger Rashad Ramazanov (Rashad Hagigat Agaaddin) was detained on May 9, near the “20 January” metro station and taken to the Department for Combating Organized Crime. The police reportedly found 9 grams of heroin on the blogger.Ramazanov rejects the charges. Once convicted, the blogger can face confiscation of property and imprisonment for 12 years. On May 20th the blogger was transferred to Baku Investigative Prison.

The blogger used his Facebook page to criticize ruling regime on the issues related to freedom and justice (http://on.fb.me/12G0WJE)