Azerbaijani Court of Appeal upholds verdict to oppositionists

On December 16, the Baku Court of Appeal, chaired by Judge Vagif Mursagulov, upheld the verdict of the Sabail District Court to four opponents, who were arrested after the rally held in Baku on April 2.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 3 Arif Gadjily, the head of the office of the "Musavat" Party, Tural Abbasly, the head of the youth wing of this party, and Mukhammed Medjidli, a member of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), were sentenced to 2.5 years in prison each, while Fuad Gakhramanly, Deputy Chairman of the PFPA, received two years of conditional imprisonment.

Today, on December 16, at the session of the Court of Appeal, the defendants' advocates demanded a repeated judicial inquiry, because, in their opinion, the preliminary investigation and trial at the first instance were unfair.

The defendant Fuad Gakhramanly has treated the trial as "a political order, aimed at intimidating the society."

"We protested against bribery, corruption, thefts and lies. We tore the mask away from the face of an authoritarian regime," said the convict Mukhammed Medjidli.

According to Tural Abbasly, "while the Alievs are in power in Azerbaijan, such trumped-up trials will continue."

"I don't ask for and don't expect any justice from you. The 'Arab Spring' is now giving rise to 'Russian Winter'; and it will give birth to 'Azerbaijani Autumn'; and then Azerbaijan will see the 'fall of dictatorship'," Mr Abbasly has added.

The defendant Arif Gadjily said that he had committed "no criminal and no administrative offence."

Despite the statements of the oppositionists, the state prosecutor Khafiz Imranov asked the court to dismiss the appeal. At the same time, the prosecutor noted that on April 2 the defendants and other participants of the action did not violate the public order, the glasses of showcases and shops were smashed by provocateurs; therefore, "these episodes were isolated into a separate criminal proceeding."

After the session, the judge announced the sentence remains in force. The oppositionists' supporters began protesting by singing the national anthem of Azerbaijan and chanting "Freedom!"

The lawyer Mustafaev said the decision of the court was "unfair." At the same time, he drew attention to the statement the prosecutor about isolation of episodes of smashing shop windows during the April 2 into a separate investigation.

"This group of activists was not accused under 'damage to other people's property'; however, several defendants from the other group, arrested in connection with the rally on April 2, had been convicted under this article. It turns out that innocent people were convicted. All this shows once again that the criminal cases on the events of April 2 were completely fabricated and politically motivated," said Mustafaev.

The defence has stated that they will appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court, and then, if necessary, to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).