Azerbaijan: prosecutor asks to sentence Neimat Panakhly to 7.5 years in jail

On June 1, the Nasimi District Court of Baku, chaired by Judge Elchin Akhmedov, finished the judicial inquiry into the case of Neimat Panakhly, Chairman of the Party of National Statehood of Azerbaijan (PNSA), accused of hooliganism and causing bodily harm. The prosecutor asked to sentence the defendant to 7.5 years in prison.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Mr Panakhly was detained, along with his friend Djeikhun Farzaliev, on January 8 on the basis of the complaint of citizen Eldar Rzaev. According to investigators, the conflict was caused by a defective car sold by Panakhly to Rzaev. The latter said that Panakhly and Farzaliev caused him bodily injuries in return to his demand to give back the money he had paid for the defective car. Panakhly rejected the accusations stating that he was persecuted by the authorities for his political activities.

On June 1, Prosecutor Asadullah Ramazanov asked the court to sentence Panakhly to 7.5 years of imprisonment, and the second defendant in this case - Djeikhun Farzaliev - to five years in prison.

In his speech Panakhly said that he did not expect any "fair and legal trial." "I was arrested by the order of the authorities and this has to do with my return to politics and participation in last year's parliamentary elections," said Panakhly. He also asked the court to release Farzaliev. "This man has nothing to do with my political struggle and this case at all. Please release him," he said.

Farzaliev said that during the investigation he was pressured in order to give evidence against Panakhly. "They told me: write about how Neimat was beating Eldar Rzaev, and we'll immediately let you go," said Farzaliev.

Samir Isaev, Panakhly's advocate, asked the court to give them time to read the minutes of the sessions and get ready to the closing speech. In this regard, Judge Akhmedov appointed the next session on June 7 at 2:30 p.m.

Samir Isaev disagreed with the statement of the prosecutor, noting that his client's guilt was not proved by the investigation. In his view, during the trial the prosecution party had also failed to provide evidences, while "the evidences of the witnesses and the victim differed from their testimonies during the preliminary investigation."

However, he refrained from detailed comments, noting that the position of the defence will be reflected in the final statement.

Prosecutor Ramazanov supported the facts contained in the indictment.

The victim Rzaev refused to give comments to the press.

Leila Yunus, Director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD) believes that Panakhly had been arrested for political reasons due to his sharp criticism of the authorities. The IPD has put Panakhly on the list of potential political prisoners.