Baku starts trying journalist Avaz Zeinalov

On May 18, the Baku Court of Grave Crimes, chaired by Judge Ramella Allakhverdieva, began considering on the merits the criminal case against Avaz Zeinalov, the editor-in-chief of the "Khural" newspaper.

Zeinalov was arrested on October 28, 2011, on suspicion of a large bribe-taking on the basis of a complaint lodged by the MP Gyular Akhmedova. Apart from Akhmedova, three others persons had applied to the Department for Combating Corruption with allegations of bribing against the journalists.

The trial started in the presence of a large number of Azerbaijani and foreign journalists, and representatives of local and international human rights organizations. Judge Ramella Allakhverdieva immediately warned that audio and video recording was prohibited.

The lawyer Elchin Sadygov petitioned about release of Zeinalov from the iron cage and possibility for him to sit close to his advocate. However, this petition was denied.

Zeinalov and his defence put forward several other motions. One of them asked to exclude from the list of evidences the SMS-messages, which had been sent from the defendant's phone to the mobile phone of the MP Akhmedova. Avaz Zeinalov said that these messages were falsified.

The defence has also petitioned to exclude the CD-ROM with recorded Zeinalov's voice from the list of evidences presented by Akhmedova to the investigation.

In his turn, the state prosecutor Vyusal Orudjev has opposed all the motions. The judge announced, after a four-minute consultation, that all the petitions and motions were rejected. The next court session on Zeinalov's case is scheduled for May 31.