Hearing of young bloggers' case starts in the capital of Azerbaijan

Today, the Sabail District Court of Baku has started judicial hearing on the case of young bloggers Adnan Gadjizade and Emin Milli, accused of hooliganism and application of bodily injuries.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, the defendants were brought to the court one hour before the session. Right before its start, young men in T-shirts with ironic inscription "I'm a hooligan" began to rally in front of the building of the court in support of the defendants.

However, policemen detained these young men (some 8-10 persons), without explanations, and brought them to the police station. Then, some more young men wrote the same on their T-shirts; they were also detained by the police. However, by the evening, all the young men were set free.

The hearings, same as the preparatory sessions, were held in a very tiny courtroom, nor able to accommodate the whole audience. Over hundred persons remained outside the building.

The witnesses - employees of the restaurant "Lebanon", where the incident on July 8 took place, and the owner of the restaurant. The witnesses were accompanied by a law enforcer in civil clothes, who interfered with the dialogue of witnesses with journalists.

After announcement of the indictment, the floor was given to the defendants. Both of them have categorically rejected all the presented charges.

Then, the victims spoke, who have echoed the version of the investigation about hooliganism committed by the bloggers. Both victims kept asserting that the reason of their fight was in bloggers' loud using obscene language, despite the presence of women in the restaurant hall. The victims' evidences were full of contradictions.

Isakhan Ashurov, advocate of Gadjizade, asked the judge to request the materials of video observation from the restaurant, as the defence failed to obtain them.