Investigators: lawyer Mamedov arrested in Azerbaijan threatened to kill a victim in his case

The lawyer Gurban Mamedov, who knocked down a man by his car, later threatened to kill him, the Baku police has reported today. The lawyer told the court on June 4 that the materials of his criminal case had been falsified.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 4 Gurban Mamedov was taken to the District Court and arrested for 2 months. He is accused of violating traffic rules and operation of a vehicle, which has negligently caused a grievous bodily harm (Article 263.1.1 of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan); he faces up to three years in prison.

According to the police, on September 27, 2012, Mamedov, while driving his Toyota RAV-4, knocked down Parviz Abbasov, a security of the car park, located at 9A Vagif Avenue. As a result of the road accident, Abbasov was injured.

According to the data of the examination, "during the investigation, the victim Parviz Abbasov said that Gurban Mamedov demanded from him to change his testimony, threatening otherwise to kill him and his family."

Meanwhile, Suleiman Gasymov, the defendant's advocate, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that he was preparing to lodge a complaint against Mamedov's arrest.

In the opinion of Ali Kerimli, the leader of the oppositional Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), Mamedov's arrest was "politically motivated."

So far, the "Caucasian Knot" has no comments of the country's leadership or representatives of law enforcement bodies in relation to the statements about the political character of the case.

Let us note here that Gurban Mamedov took an active part in the national-democratic movement of the late 1980s and early 1990s. He defended the rights of some political prisoners; recently, he has publicly criticized the Azerbaijani authorities for corruption and human rights violations.