In Baku, court upholds verdict against oppositionist Gumbatov

The Court of Appeal in Baku upheld the verdict against oppositionist Agil Gumbatov, who was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment for injuring a fellow villager. An advocate announced the intention to appeal against the court’s decision.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on November 15, 2021, Agil Gumbatov, a member of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment. The court found him guilty of injuring with a knife his neighbour Yamen Mamedov, a resident of the village of Zirya. Agil Gumbatov himself stated in court that he was being persecuted for political reasons for criticizing the authorities of Azerbaijan.

Today, the Court of Appeal of Azerbaijan has announced the decision to uphold the verdict against Agil Gumbatov. Advocate Neimat Kerimli called the court’s decision unfair.

“Our investigation found that it was not a mother of the victim who called an ambulance, but the call came from the police. This means the neighbour was not stabbed. The Court of Appeal, like the first instance court, did not consider our motions about the above facts and called them unfounded,” the advocate told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

According to the advocate, the defence intends to appeal against the court’s decision at the cassation instance and then at the Supreme Court (SC), and later, if necessary, at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 18, 2022 at 01:12 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.