Baku court decides to hear case of political scientist Gasimli accused of extortion
A Baku court has accepted the case of political scientist Azer Gasimli for consideration on the merits, rejecting most of the defense's motions. At the same time, the court agreed to question only two defense witnesses during the trial.
As "Caucasian Knot" reported, the defense motioned to terminate the criminal prosecution of the political scientist due to the lack of corpus delicti in his actions.
On December 8, 2024, Director of the Institute of Political Management Azer Gasimli was detained on suspicion of extortion from a person who owed Gasimli money. The next day, investigators brought charges against Gasimli, and the court remanded him in custody. The case materials state that political scientist Gurbanali Yusifov and his family, demanding that the victim return the borrowed funds.
Yesterday, July 2, the preparatory hearing on the Gasimli case ended in the Baku Court of Grave Crimes. "Unfortunately, the court once again did not grant our motion to allow Azer Gasimli to sit next to the lawyers. Our motions submitted at the previous hearing, including the motion to terminate the criminal case due to the absence of a crime, were also rejected. The court only granted the motion to call two additional witnesses during the trial. As a result, the case was accepted for consideration on the merits," lawyer Agil Laidj told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
He called the court's decision unfounded. "There is no evidence against Azer Gasimli that he extorted funds through threats. He had been legally demanding the money he had lent to the victim for many years. Gasimly filed civil claims in court. This case was heard in two courts, and Yusifov acknowledged this debt. If the court had granted our motion to request audio and video recordings from these trials, the fact of Yusifov's debt would have become obvious. Why did Gasimly threaten Yusifov and his family with murder if the law was on his side and the person now recognized as the victim himself acknowledged the debt to him in court? This civil dispute was turned against Gasimly in order to arrest him in connection with his socio-political activities," the lawyer said.
According to him, the defense has correspondence and an exchange of voice messages between Gasimly and Yusifov, indicating the latter's debt to the accused. "Unfortunately, the court refused to consider these text and voice messages at the preparatory hearing," said lawyer Laidj.
Yusifov and the prosecution were unavailable for comment. An employee of the Baku Grave Crimes Court confirmed the information about the case being accepted for proceedings and the appointment of a hearing on the merits.
The political scientist is suspected under Article 182.2.3 of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan (extortion by threat, coercion), which provides for imprisonment for a term of five to ten years. Azer Gasimli rejected the charge of extortion, linking the criminal prosecution to his socio-political activities, and called the criminal case fabricated by political order. On December 9, 2024, in court, lawyers demanded that the investigation provide primary evidence of Gasimli's guilt, but did not receive it.
Earlier, the wife of political scientist Samir Gasimli said that the arrest "is a political order from the authorities". "Azer is being persecuted for his consistent, sharp criticism of the political regime in Azerbaijan, which suppresses critical voices. Azer criticized the authorities' policy of refusing to cooperate with the international democratic community and rapprochement with authoritarian regimes. Azer was arrested so that he could not convey his critical expressions to society," Samira Gasimli noted.
Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/412764