09 January 2019, 08:29
Prosecutor demands six months in prison for Azerbaijani oppositionist
The defence has considered the charge against Mamed Ibragim, adviser to the Chairman of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), of possessing a knife unproved and called on the court to acquit him.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 29, 2018, Mamed Ibragim, who had by then served three years in colony and was supposed to be released, was arrested for two months in the case of keeping a knife in his prison cell. The court rejected the complaint against his arrest and refused to release him for the period of inquiry.
Mamed Ibragim was detained on September 30, 2015, on charges of beating a man; in March 2016, the court sentenced him to three years in prison. His advocates claimed falsification of materials of his case. In August, 2018, the activist, who had become blind in his left eye in colony, was operated on. Mamed Ibragim is on the list of Azerbaijani political prisoners.
Today, at the court session, out of the three witnesses, whose summoning was claimed by the defence, only one was present, said Turan Ibragim, Mamed's son.
"Today, at the trial, he stated that he didn't see who had put the knife under my father's pillow," said Turan Ibragim.
Investigators failed to prove Mamed Ibragim's guilt, said the advocate Javad Javadov. "None of the witnesses has testified that the knife belonged to Mamed Ibragim. They acknowledged that the knife could have been put there by some other person," he explained.
According to the advocate, the colony staff gave Mamed Ibragim a "negative characteristic, indicating that he is a PFPA member and professes Salafism." "But PFPA is an officially registered organization; and Salafism is not banned in Azerbaijan," Mr Javadov has stated.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 8, 2019 at 04:45 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Faik Medjid Source: CK correspondent
