Yunis Safarov claims violation of his right to be visited at SIZO

Yunis Safarov, a defendant in the case on an attempted assassination of the Ganja Mayor, demanded from the court to ensure the publicity of the trial and also claimed a violation of his rights to visits of relatives and phone calls at the SIZO (pre-trial prison).

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 7 and 8, in Baku, the court held a preparatory hearing in the case against Yunis Safarov, who was accused of the attempted assassination of Ganja Mayor Elmar Veliev, and other suspects.

On January 16, at the trial chaired by Judge Natiq Aliev, the court started the consideration of the case on the merits.

The defendants asked the court to allow journalists filming the trial. "In the past 30 years, there has not been such an event in Azerbaijan when a citizen inflicted bodily harm to an official and attempted to kill him. And people should know the reasons for such an act. The trial is of interest to the people," said defendant Yunis Safarov.

The defendant's statement provoked an irritated reaction of Judge Natiq Aliev. "Suppress his voice, turn off his microphone [in a glass cage]," said the Judge while addressing bailiffs. After that, the court rejected motions for audio and video recordings.

Yunis Safarov further claimed a violation of his rights. "I am the main defendant in the case. But I can't build my defence. For a year and a half I have been deprived of the possibility of phone conversations and visits. My options are limited. What fair trial can we talk about?" Yunis Safarov said.

However, the Judge stated that the issue on the permission of visits and phone calls was the responsibility of the Penitentiary Service. He proposed Yunis Safarov to write a complaint so that the court would send a request to the Penitentiary Service.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 17, 2020 at 06:39 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.