Interrogation in court in Gasimly's case revealed the political nature of his persecution

Gurbanali Yusifov, who accused political scientist Azer Gasimli of extortion, was unable to explain in court the claims in his own statements that Gasimli allegedly set him “against statehood.”

As “Kavkazsky Uzel” reported, a Baku court has been considering the case of political scientist Azer Gasimli since July, who faces up to 10 years in prison on charges of extortion and threats. At the beginning of the trial, the court rejected most of the defense’s motions, agreeing to question only two defense witnesses. Gasimli denied all charges, stating that he was in fact the victim.

At the next hearing on the case of Azer Gasimli in the Baku Court of Grave Crimes on September 10, the victim in the case of Gurbanali Yusifov was questioned. He avoided giving clear answers to the questions posed by Gasimli’s defense and the defendant himself, said the wife of political scientist Samira Gasimli.

“This man was deliberately avoiding answering all questions and manipulating the questions,” Meydan TV quotes Samira Gasimli as saying.

According to the defendant’s wife, only three of Yusifov’s relatives – his father, mother, and cousin – are witnesses to the alleged threats, but even they were not direct witnesses. In their testimonies, they indicated that they learned about the threats from Gurbanali Yusifov himself.

“Azer Gasimli asked him specific questions: did your friends and relatives know about the threats? He did not answer this question specifically. This question was repeated several times, and each time he gave vague answers, the judge intervened: “You are being asked a specific question: did your relatives or friends know about this?” Then he gave a different answer: he said that his cousin was reading social networks and told him that a man named Azer Gasimli was looking for him,” the defendant’s wife said.

During interrogation as a witness, Gurbanali Yusifov admitted that Gasimli demanded from him only the money that he had previously lent him. Samira Gasimli drew attention to the fact that the extortion charge brought against the political scientist is invalid under such circumstances: the article on extortion implies demanding the victim’s personal property, while Gasimli only wanted to get his money back.

Gasimli’s lawyer drew attention to the political aspect of the letter that Yusifov sent to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan, Vilayat Eyvazov. In it, Yusifov claimed that Gasimly “set him up” “against statehood” before making threats. The defense attorney asked Yusifov to explain what exactly he meant by this phrase and what specific actions the political scientist took to “set him up” “against statehood.”

“He gave a completely absurd answer to this question. He said: ‘I was thinking about options then, that’s why I wrote this,’” Samira Gasimly said.

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