Azerbaijani court sentences Yunis Safarov to life imprisonment

In Baku, a court has sentenced Yunis Safarov, accused of an attempt on the life of the head of Ganja, to life imprisonment. Nine other defendants within this case have been sentenced to prison terms from 18 to 20 years.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 3, 2018, an attempt was made on the head of the Ganja administration, Elmar Veliev. Law enforcers treated the assassination attempt as a terrorist attack and detained Yunis Safarov, a suspect in the crime. After that, townspeople came out to mass protests and expressed dissatisfaction with the work of Veliev himself. On July 10, two policemen perished during the dispersal of the protest. About 60 people were convicted under the riot case.

On August 16, the Baku Grave Crimes Court read out the verdict of those accused of committing a pre-planned terror act against the head of the city, Elmar Veliev, and policemen. The court sentenced the main defendant, Yunis Safarov, to life imprisonment, the APA News Agency reported on the same day.

The court also sentenced other defendants. Thus, Rasim Mustafaev, Akif Aliev and Makhir Azizov were sentenced to 20 years in prison; Gamlet Abdullaev, Firudin Zeinalov, Djeikhun Salakhov and Vugar Mamedov – to 19 years in prison each; and Djeikhun Gurbanov and Djafar Zalov – to 18 years in prison each.

Two other defendants under this case – Anar Bagirov and Rza Sarkhani – had died by the time of sentencing; therefore, they were not sentenced.

In his last plea, Yunis Safarov stated that he had attacked the former head of Ganja, Elmar Veliev, because of his rough treatment of townspeople and that he did not regret about his actions.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 17, 2021 at 07:22 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.