SC of Azerbaijan upholds guilty verdict to three opposition activists

The Azerbaijani Supreme Court (SC) has rejected the complaints and upheld the guilty verdicts to oppositionists Shakhin Gasanli, Arif Gadjily and Fuad Gakhramanly, convicted in connection with the rally on April 2, 2011, in Baku.

Firstly, the SC considered the cassation complaint of Shakhin Gasanli, the head of the organizational department of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA).

Mr Gasanli was absent at the session; his interests were represented by the lawyer Alaif Gasanov.

The lawyer has petitioned for his client's involvement in the process; however, the prosecutor Makhir Abbasov opposed the petition, while the presiding judge Farkhad Kerimov said that "the defence should have applied well in advance about the defendant's desire to take part in the process."

The lawyer further stated that Gasanli was accused of illegal bearing of pistol rounds. "However, neither at the first instance court nor at the Court of Appeal these exhibits were presented to the defence. We were not provided even with serial numbers of those rounds; they said that the numbers 'got erased', which is impossible, since numbers of cartridges remaining since the 1940s are clearly seen. The serial numbers were not shown to the defence, because then it would be clear what structure had owned the ammunition," said the lawyer.

"Shakhin Gasanli believes that his arrest was directly linked to his political activities. Prior to arrest, his car was shadowed; and it was done without any sanction of the judicial authority," said Gasanov.

The lawyer asked the Supreme Court to render an acquittal; however, the prosecutor Abbasov urged the judge to uphold the verdict.

After a brief consultation it was announced that the decisions of lower courts were maintained.

The lawyer treated the SC's decision as "illegal and unfair" and announced his intention to file a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

The same bench of the SC considered complaints of Arif Gadjily and PFPA's deputy chairman Fuad Gakhramanly.

Mr Gadjily was not present at the SC session involved in the process of the Supreme Court on his own will. He was represented by the lawyer Asabali Mustafaev, who also defended the rights of Gakhramanly, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

Mr Mustafaev said that his clients' cases had been non-objectively considered by lower courts: "My clients are accused of organizing actions aimed at disturbing public order. But not a single evidence was presented. The rally was peaceful as evidenced by all the appeals and addresses of the activists of the "Public Chamber".

Fuad Gakhramanly himself stated the political nature of his case. "The April 2 rally was dispersed, and its active participants were arrested with the aim to intimidate the population and prevent the rise of citizens' political activeness," said Gakhramanly.

However, the state prosecutor has rejected the political motives of the criminal case.

The verdicts to Gadjily and Gakhramanly were also left unchanged.