Court upholds verdict to convicts under "Ganja case"

The Baku Court of Appeal (BCA) has upheld the verdict against Yunis Safarov and other convicts in the case of the attempt on the head of Ganja. The defence has expressed its disagreement with this decision and will appeal against at the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan, the advocates have stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 16, 2021, the court sentenced Yunis Safarov, accused of attempting to assassinate the Ganja Mayor, Elmar Veliev, to life imprisonment. Nine other figurants in the case received from 18 to 20 years of imprisonment.

On April 15, the BCA completed considering the complaints lodged by Yunis Safarov and other convicts in the case of the attempt on the Ganja Mayor. The verdict was left unchanged, Bakhtiyar Gadjiev, a Safarov's advocate, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, adding that the decision would be challenged.

Mr Safarov has explained that he had taken this step because authorities had failed to react to the arbitrariness of Mayor Elmar Veliev. He has claimed that Veliev, in particular, was disrespectful towards believers, "treated rudely the citizens who came to the Mayoralty with complaints," the advocate has added.

Mr Gadjiev treats the punishment imposed on Safarov as excessively harsh. "When giving a legal assessment, the court must take into account the circumstances of the crime. In Safarov's case, he had no intention to commit any sort of a terror act," said the advocate.

He has also pointed out that "neither the first instance court nor the BCA took into account Safarov's complaints of torture."

The advocates of other convicts also intend to file cassation appeals against the BCA's decision at the Azerbaijani Supreme Court.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 16, 2022 at 12:41 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.