Azerbaijan starts trying young oppositionist Bakhtiyar Gadjiev

A trial of Bakhtiyar Gadjiev, accused of evading military service, starts in Azerbaijan. On April 7, the Nizami District Court of the city of Gandzha, chaired by Emin Akhundov, plans to hold a preliminary hearing on the case.

The defence is going to take "the aggressive tactics and accuse the investigation party of gross violations of the law," Intigam Aliev, head of the Azerbaijani Society of Legal Education, who is coordinating the defence of the young activist, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Mr Aliev himself is deprived of the opportunity to act at the trial as a lawyer, because the Bar Association denies his accession to the Bar, because, as he believes, of his principled position.

According to his story, advocates were not officially notified about the date and time of the trial. Only the defendant was informed that it will start on April 7 at 3:00 p.m.; and advocates learned from him about it.

In his comment on the rumours that the court may hold closed the hearings, Aliev said that "there are no reasons for that; and such misinformation may be deliberately spread in order to reduce public attention to the process." He did not rule out that the court may choose the "tactics of attrition by repeatedly postponing the hearings, so that representatives of human rights and international organizations get tired to attend the sessions."

The lawyer also drew attention to the fact that, despite the expiry on April 4 of Gadjiev's one month's arrest, he remained in custody, which is "a flagrant violation of the law."

"The arrest as such was illegal, because no evidences were presented of Gadjiev's violating his commitments to remain under the control of the police. In particular, the investigation failed to present any proofs that Gadjiev had left Gandzha without notifying the police," continued Aliev.

In proved impossible to get any comment at the prosecutor's office of Gandzha in connection with the statement that Gadjiev was kept in custody longer than the term fixed by the court. The office said that all issues would be clarified at the trial.

In his turn, Rasul Dzhafarov, a lawyer from the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS), has confirmed the illegality of keeping Gadjiev in custody longer than the court had ruled. He also announced the intention of the IRFS to closely monitor the Gadjiev's litigation.