Anar Mammadli called his trial a "political show"

Anar Mammadli

Azerbaijani human rights activist Anar Mammadli rejected the charges against him and called the criminal case a "political show orchestrated by the regime."

The head of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center (EMDSC), Anar Mammadli, was detained in Baku on April 29, 2024, and arrested on charges of smuggling as part of a case against employees of the publication Abzas Media. Later, Mammadli's case was separated into an individual proceeding. On April 8, freelance journalist Anar Abdulla (Abdullayev) was summoned to the Baku police, where he was charged in the Anar Mammadli case. In addition to smuggling, they were charged under 7 other articles of the Criminal Code.

Abdulla was initially placed under police supervision, but in August, the court ordered his arrest.

Both defendants have been recognized as political prisoners by human rights activists.

On September 22, the trial in this case continued at the Baku Court of Grave Crimes.

In his defense speech, human rights activist Mammadli called the charges against him "unsubstantiated and politically motivated," and the trial a "political show orchestrated by the regime."

Mammadli recalled that he was arrested and convicted on fabricated charges back in 2013, the political motivation of which was confirmed by a 2018 ECHR decision.

According to Mammadli, the current charges are essentially no different from the previous ones.

He disagreed with being presented in the case as a "previously convicted person," since after the ECHR decision, the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan was obliged to fully acquit him.

Mammadli stated that on April 8, the final charge was announced to him, and its essence was laid out in three sentences. The first consisted of 224 words, the second – 554, and the third, on 12 pages, had 6,370 words.

In the activist's opinion, these confusing, incomprehensible, and extremely long sentences looked more like an ancient chronicle than a legal document.

Mammadli also pointed out that he had sought state registration for the EMDSC he headed and had even won a case at the ECHR, but the government of Azerbaijan did not enforce this decision either.

"We were not engaged in illegal activities. We operated as an NGO, and there is nothing illegal about that," Mammadli said.

In turn, Gunay Ismayilova, the lawyer for the other defendant, Anar Abdulla, asked to change the pre-trial measure for her client to police supervision, taking into account that he has a sick mother and a minor child under his care.

However, the court did not satisfy the request.

The next court hearing is scheduled for September 29.