In Baku, Hilal Mamedov's supporters protest at courtroom

The today's session of the Baku Court of Grave Crimes has considered the case against Hilal Mamedov, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Tolyshi Sado". The defendant's supporters demanded to disqualify public prosecutor Tural Yusifov from the trial. The prosecutor had to leave the courtroom, and the court hearings were suspended; however, they were resumed later. On September 25, the defence is to deliver speech at trial.

Let us remind you that Hilal Mamedov is accused of treason, inciting ethnic hatred and possessing illegal drugs. Today, the prosecutor asked the Court to sentence Hilal Mamedov to six years of imprisonment.

The today's court session began with the final statement of public prosecutor Tural Yusifov. He has expressed the opinion that the judicial investigation proved the guilt of the defendant on charges under all three articles.

However, when the prosecutor has stated that after leaving for Saint Petersburg, Hilal Mamedov "had established contacts with the Armenian Diaspora of Russia to carry out activities against the Azerbaijani state", about fifty defendant's supporters, who attended the court session, rose from their seats and began to violently protest and to demand to disqualify the prosecutor.

The indignation of the Hilal Mamedov's supporters was so emotional that the prosecutor had to leave the court session.

When commenting on the prosecutor's statement, advocate Ramiz Mamedov called it absolutely groundless in legal contemplation and absurd in terms of logic.

It should be noted that in late August, Hilal Mamedov disseminated two statements. In the first statement, he assessed positively the activity of President Ilham Aliev, and in the second statement, he explained the circumstances and causes for writing the first statement. According to his explanation, the statement has been made in the name of reconciliation in society, and he has assured the readers that he did not change his principles.