Sadygbeili's defence treat investigation against him as biased

A court in Baku refused to transfer Abulfaz Sadygbeili, the head of the youth organization of the "Musavat" Party, to house arrest. His defence believes that the investigation is biased; and the court ignores the norms of the law.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 23, a court in Baku decided to imprison Abulfaz Sadygbeili for three months. The activist is charged with fraud.

The appeal to change Sadygbeili's custody for house arrest has been considered today at the Sabail District Court of Baku, the advocate Osman Kyazimov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"We asked the court to change custody for house arrest; moreover, new circumstances have opened up in the case. Investigators claim that Abulfaz Sadygbeili has appropriated someone's property in the amount of 11,000 manats (6500 US dollars). This week we paid to the bank 10,000 manats (5800 US dollars) collected by my client's relatives, friends, and associates. Thus, the consequences of the crime have been practically eliminated, although in reality Abulfaz Sadygbeili committed no crime at all, but his relatives decided that it would be better to repay the alleged damage in order to release the young man from custody," Mr Kyazimov asserts.

According to his story, the remaining amount of 1000 manats (580 US dollars) is expected to be repaid in the coming days. Thus, there will be no reason to keep him in custody.

"Investigators claim that when at large, Sadygbeili may hide. But why should he hide if the consequences of the alleged crime are almost eliminated?" asked Kyazimov.

He has stated that "the court has formally considered the defence's petition and rejected it, despite the absence of grounds provided for by Articles 155-156 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Azerbaijan."

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 7, 2018 at 03:20 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.