Jailed activist's sons face trial over schoolyard fight

Taleh Bagirzade

The teenage sons of jailed Azerbaijani religious activist Taleh Bagirzade are to stand trial following an altercation at a Baku school, a human rights defender has said.

Arzu Abdulla said investigators had informed the family on 17 July that the pre-trial investigation into Mahammadhasan and Mahammadhuseyn Bagirzade was complete and the case had been referred to court.

The older brother, Mahammadhasan, is charged with hooliganism and deliberately causing minor bodily harm, while Mahammadhuseyn faces a single charge of hooliganism. Both deny the charges.

The charges stem from a fight on 7 April at a school sports field in the Buzovna district of the capital, Baku.

According to the family, the dispute began when an older pupil used offensive language. When Mahammadhuseyn intervened, a physical fight broke out involving several pupils.

The family said Mahammadhasan stepped in after seeing his brother being beaten by two people. They denied local reports that a schoolgirl's nose was broken during the fight, stating instead that a male youth had suffered a broken nose.

Efforts to reach an out-of-court reconciliation failed after the other party rejected the proposal, prompting prosecutors to press ahead with the trial.

The Bagirzade family has called the prosecution a "message of intimidation" targeting their father, amid what they describe as a wider crackdown on religious activists in Azerbaijan.

Taleh Bagirzade, the leader of the Muslim Unity Movement, is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence. He was convicted in 2017 on charges of attempting to overthrow the constitutional order, which he rejects as politically motivated.

The activist has maintained that his campaign is solely for religious freedom and social justice. International human rights organisations have recognised him as a political prisoner.