Giyas Ibragimov treats charges against him as politically motivated

In Baku, at the trial in the criminal case against activist Giyas Ibragimov, the court has read out the indictment. Giyas Ibragimov has pleaded not guilty of the alleged crime drug trafficking on a large scale. The activist has stated that he is being prosecuted for political reasons because of the graffiti on the monument to Geidar Aliev, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Giyas Ibragimov and Bairam Mamedov, activists of the movement "Nida", were detained on charges of drug trafficking in Baku on May 10, 2016. Both defendants face 5-12 years of imprisonment. According to the movement "Nida", they were detained after the appearance of graffiti on the pedestal of the monument to Geidar Aliev in Baku. The defence reports that both defendants plead not guilty and claim that they confessed under torture. The international human rights organization "Amnesty International" (AI) recognized them "prisoners of conscience."

"The only reason for my arrest is the inscription made by me on the pedestal of the monument to Geidar Aliev. During the detention, they asked me why I wrote a political slogan on the monument. For that, I was insulted, beaten and forced to confess to the crime I never committed," said Giyas Ibragimov at the court hearing held on September 27.

When commenting on the results of the court hearing, advocate Elchin Sadygov has noted that the investigation was carried out with violations of the law.

"According to the investigators, Giyas bought drugs from an Iranian citizen. However, the police failed to identify that man. And they did not try to identify him. There is no tangible evidence that Giyas contacted an Iranian citizen," the advocate told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.