The Supreme Court of Azerbaijan upheld the sentences of Afiyaddin Mammadov and Ilhamiz Guliyev.
The Supreme Court of Azerbaijan, having separately reviewed the cassation appeals of trade union activist Afiyaddin Mammadov and human rights defender Ilhamiz Guliyev, dismissed them. The defense will seek to have these activists' convictions declared unlawful in the European Court of Human Rights.
As reported by the Caucasian Knot, on January 14, 2025, a Baku court sentenced Afiyaddin Mammadov, head of the alternative trade union confederation "Workers' Platform," to eight years in prison, finding him guilty of stabbing a passerby. An appeals court upheld the sentence. In April 2019, Mamedov complained about the systematic violation of prisoners' rights to make telephone calls, and in June he reported unsanitary conditions in the colony.
On February 4, the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan separately considered the cassation appeals against the sentences of Mamedov and Guliyev, the convicted man's lawyer, Zibeyda Sadigova, told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
"We drew the court's attention to the fact that the lower courts failed to conduct an objective investigation. None of the nearly 20 defense motions were granted. One of the key motions concerned requests for CCTV footage from the scene where, according to investigators, the incident occurred and from the scene where Mamedov was actually attacked. He was in fact detained at the entrance to his building when he left his home to attend a friend's wedding. "The police, however, indicated a different address for the incident. CCTV footage would have shown where and what actually happened," the lawyer said.
Furthermore, according to her, even prosecution witnesses did not confirm that they saw Mamedov holding a knife. However, Sadygova's lawyer continued, the Supreme Court did not heed the defense's arguments and dismissed the complaint.
Sadygova also represented Ilkhamiz Guliyev, whose complaint was heard by a panel of judges chaired by Teyub Mukhtarov at the Supreme Court on February 4.
Activist Ilkhamiz Guliyev, who helped internally displaced persons, was detained in Baku on December 4, 2023, on suspicion of drug trafficking. The activist pleaded not guilty and claimed the case was falsified. The prosecutor demanded a seven-year prison sentence for Guliyev. On December 13, 2024, a Baku court sentenced Guliyev to three years in prison.
“There was also no reliable evidence against Ilkhamiz Guliyev. From the very beginning, there were gross procedural violations in the case. Thus, contrary to the instructions of the Plenum of the Supreme Court and the precedent-setting decisions of the ECHR on drug cases from Azerbaijan, he, as a suspect, was not searched at the place of detention. The search took place at the station where he was under the control of police. "Furthermore, despite the fact that we had a defense agreement with him, I was not immediately allowed to see him after his arrest, and during this time he was subjected to violence to force a confession," Sadygova said.
Two months before his arrest on criminal charges, Guliyev was subjected to administrative arrest after he told Abzas Media how drug cases were falsified in police custody. He said he knew about this from his experience working for the police, where he was hired to draft documents.
The lawyer noted that the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal. Sadygova emphasized that if the Supreme Court had at least partially upheld the complaint and reduced his sentence by six months, Guliyev would have been eligible for amnesty, since he would then have less than six months left to serve.
Sadygova noted that since domestic appeal mechanisms have been exhausted in both activists' cases, the defense will now prepare applications to the ECHR.
An employee of the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan confirmed to a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the court's criminal division had reviewed and rejected the appeals of Mamedov and Guliyev.