Today, 10 March, in the Baku Appellate Court, under the chairmanship of Judge Gail Mammadov, a hearing was conducted on the appeal of Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade’s lawyers Isakhan Ashurov and Elton Guliyev against the decision of the Sabail District Court adopted on 11 November 2009. 

The bloggers’ lawyers Isakhan Ashurov and Elton Guliyev participated in the hearing and introduced evidence that proved the innocence of the bloggers and submitted the document to the court in written form.
The lawyers emphasized that they believed from the beginning that sentencing bloggers to pre-trial detention was unfair Lawyer Isakhan Ashurov said that the appeal given to the European Court of Human Rights regarding the subjection of bloggers to ill treatment by police and their sentence to unfounded pre-trial detention has already been accepted for consideration.
He added that unless a fair decision was issued, an appeal will be filed in the ECHR after they appeal to relevant authorities regarding this issue as well.
Adnan Hajizade said that photos presented as evidence to the Sabail District Court depicting their injuries they received while they were in the police department #39 were not considered in this verdict. He added that although the hearing was recorded by the court after their motion in the Sabail District Court, the recording was not presented to them later.
A.Hajizade emphasized that all these create doubts as to whether or not the court protocols are being written accurately during the hearings. He asked the court to consider all these points when they issue a decision.
State plaintiff Gudrat Hasanov said that the evidence presented to the court by the defendant was unfounded and asked the court to uphold the verdict of the Sabail District Court.
I.Ashurov and E.Guliyev said that the bloggers are innocent and asked for the verdict of the Sabail District Court to be annulled.
The youth bloggers also demanded that the court annul the verdict.
After returning from deliberation, Judge Gail Mammadov announced the decision to uphold the verdict of the Sabail District Court.
On 8 July, at approximately 8:00 p.m., Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade were sitting at a table in “Lebonese”  (Livan) restaurant along with several other young adults, when two people that looked like sportsmen came up to them, and attacked them causing physical injuries. Although they appealed to police as victims, police detained Adnan and Emin as suspected persons for 48 hours and freed the attackers. On 10 July, the Sabail District Court issued a decision under article 221.2.1 (hooliganism) of the Criminal Code to sentence Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade to two months pre-trial detention. On July 20 the Appellate Court upheld the decision of the lower court. The investigation of the criminal case was concluded and a criminal case under articles 221.2.1 (hooliganism) and 127 (inflicting intentional minor bodily harm) was opened against E.Millli and A.Hajizade and the case had been sent to court to be considered. According to the verdict of Sabail district Court, Emin Milli was sentenced to 2,5 years imprisonment and Adnan Hajizade to 2 years imprisonment on 11 November.

Photo:

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Video: http://www.irfs.az/content/view/3560/31/lang,az/