Azerbaijan: language experts invited to trial of Hilal Mamedov

The defence Hilal Mamedov, the editor-in-chief of the "Tolyshi Sado" newspaper, accused of inciting interethnic hatred, has petitioned about invitation to the trial of the experts, who had provided their linguistic conclusion. The court has satisfied the petition of the defence.

"Today, the court has finished listening to the witnesses in support on these charges. No compelling evidence against Hilal Mamedov was presented," the lawyer Khalid Bagirov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent; however, he refrained from detailed comments, because of the closed character of the trial.

The defence has applied for inviting the three employees of the Centre of Forensic Examination of the Ministry of Justice, who had given their opinion on the linguistic expertise. The judge has granted the motion and scheduled the next session for April 17.

Mr Bagirov has explained that the prosecution referred to the results of the linguistic expertise and qualified "the inciting of interethnic and inter-religious hatred" in the interview that Mamedov gave to the Iranian Sahar TV-2 Channel; and in two articles published in the newspaper "Tolyshi Sado".

The Institute of Media Rights (IMR) has prepared an alternative expert's opinion, which will be presented to the court.