Journalist Polad Aslanov complains about unfair trial

In Baku, the trial of Polad Aslanov, accused of high treason and threat of murder, began with charges against the judge. In the opinion of the journalist and his advocates, the judge who had earlier worked for the Ministry of National Security (MNS) is interested in a guilty verdict.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in June 2019, Polad Aslanov, the editor-in-chief of the Azerbaijani online editions "Xeberman.com" and "Press-az.com", was detained and placed in custody on suspicion of espionage. On December 24, 2019, he was charged with a threat of death or a grave bodily harm.

A preparatory session on Aslanov's case was held on February 3, at the Baku Court of Grave Crimes.

The advocate, Elchin Sadygov, made a statement demanding to challenge Judge Faig Ganiev. "Esteemed judge, in 1998-2013, you served for the Ministry of National Security (MNS). And Polad Aslanov was arrested by employees of the former MNS – now the State Security Service (SSS). We believe that you will be an interested party in this case, because the inquiry had been run by your former colleagues. I want to touch upon another point. When the inquiry was underway into the case of the journalist, Einulla Fatullaev (in 2007-2008), you were an investigator and I was his advocate. You then summoned me to the MNS and put pressure on me," the advocate has emphasized.

After the contemplation, two other judges from the composition of the court on this case, Mirza Khankishiev and Ilham Makhmudov, have rejected the challenge.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 4, 2020 at 05:02 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.