A new hearing was held on the case of Tolishy Sado newspaper chief editor Hilal Mammadov at the Baku Grave Crimes Court on July 10. Judge Azer Mammadov presided over the hearing. As soon as the process began, the judge declared it was postponed, because one of the attesting witnesses in the case was in Moscow at the moment, and the other died on December 3, 2012. Attendance of the previous at the next hearing would be ensured, he said.
Lawyers of the defendant, making a petition said they wanted Jeyhun Karimov, the investigator at the Department of Investigation of the Baku city Nizami district Police Office to be questioned in court, as he conducted two searches in Mammadov’s house at the time of his arrest. The lawyers claimed the investigator had violated the law by doing so. According to the requirements of the criminal procedure law, the investigators are questioned in court only when their activities constitute violations of the law. The lawyer also quoted the investigator Karimov as saying that the electronic media in Mammadov’s apartment could contain the name of his (drug) customers, when providing reason for his decision to conduct a second search therein.
The court rejected the petition after an onsite deliberation. The next process was appointed to July 17, 10:30am.
Background: Hilal Mammadov was arrested on June 21, 2012, on charges of illegal possession of drugs in large quantities (Article 234.4.3/Criminal Code), treason (Article 274/Criminal Code), and incitement to national, racial, social and religious hatred and hostility (Article 283/Criminal Code).