Chief of colony suggests Fatullayev could have been planted drugs in prison

Representatives of the management of colony No 12 in Azerbaijan who acted as witnesses during the trial of previously convicted journalist Einulla Fatullayev, accused of keeping drugs, made statements which, according to the defense lawyers, fully proves the innocence of the defendant.

According to the prosecution theory, on December 29, 2009, 0.22 grams of heroin was found on Fatullayev serving his sentence in colony No 12, as a result of which the journalist was accused under article 234.1 CC (illegal storage of drugs). The journalist himself vehemently denies the accusation.

On Wednesday, April  28, a regular hearing was held in the Garadag district court of Baku chaired by judge Ismail Khalilov on the case of Einulla Fatullayev, accused of illegal storage of drugs.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports that witnesses continued to give evidence and Fatullayev had an opportunity to ask them questions. But first of all he pointed out the hard conditions at colony No 12 where he was serving his sentence. "The conditions at the colony are simply unbearable. There only 8 toilets and 9 shower booths per 800 convicts. It is simply a concentration camp", noted convict Einulla Fatullayev.

"The food is cooked using cotton oil. The food products are sold to the prisoners. The isolation ward is a cold concrete hole. I have been kept for 11 days in such isolation ward after I expressed dissatisfaction with the low quality of food", continued Fatullayev.

Talking about the regime of the colony, he stated violence against convicts on the part of the administration. "Prisoners were dragged on asphalt until they started bleeding, for violating the regime", he emphasized. "How can one take drugs to the colony where the system of control is so strict?"

However, Kirim Shirinov, chief of the operational department of colony No 12, who stood as witness, categorically refuted the Fatullayev's statement. According to Shirinov, the conditions appropriate to the regime of the establishment are applied in the colony and all the necessary standards are observed. He refuted the statements on torture and other methods of physical pressure on the prisoners.

Shirinov refuted the statement of the defendant that the drugs had been planted on him. At the same time, he recognized that, in the course of the search of Fatullayev, the packs of drugs taken out of the journalist's coat and footwear had not been weighed or photographed.

Nevertheless, the judge continued the hearing and gave the floor to another witness - Avtandil Agayev, chief of colony No 12, who also refuted the claims of Fatullayev on unbearable conditions for the prisoners and the torture.

Judge Ismail Khalilov asked Agayev if the belongings of convicts remain unattended when they sleep and if it is possible to plant drugs on them. The chief of the colony answered as follows: "The doors of the barracks in the colony remain open for the night. In principle, one can not only enter and plant something but also strangle a convict".

Journalist's lawyer Isakhan Ashurov considers this statement of the colony chief as a "sensational acknowledgement which refutes the claim of the investigation to the effect that the storage by Fatullayev of drugs has been proved beyond doubt". "This has become yet one more evidence of the fact that the case has been fabricated and that the drugs have really been planted. But there is a lot more evidence of this in the case", he said.

The next court session on the case is appointed at 14.00, April 30.