The defense requested the acquittal of the defendants in the Toplum TV case.

The lawyers of the defendants in the Toplum TV case completed their closing statements in the Baku Serious Crimes Court, calling for the acquittal of all defendants. The prosecution is not supported by evidence, and some of its claims contradict the materials of the case and current laws, the defenders pointed out.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", the activists and journalists arrested in the Toplum TV case, who were initially accused of currency smuggling, were presented with new charges in January under six criminal articles. They face up to 12 years in prison. Toplum TV positioned itself as an independent platform for expressing various opinions on socio-political and socio-economic events. On February 10, Toplum TV announced the suspension of its activities in Azerbaijan. On June 8, the prosecutor requested long prison sentences for the defendants - from 13 to 16 years.

On July 6, the closing statements of the lawyers continued in the Baku Serious Crimes Court during the Toplum TV case. The lawyer of the member of the Institute of Democratic Initiatives (IDI) Ramil Babayev Gunay Ismailova pointed out the invalidity of the grounds for the arrest of her client on charges of smuggling.

“Gunay Ismailova noted that Ramil Babayev did not have a foreign passport at all. He traveled to Turkey several times for personal matters using an identity card (internal passport of Azerbaijan; Turkey allows Azerbaijani citizens to enter with these documents - note from "Caucasian Knot"). The lawyer drew attention to the fact that the investigation claims that Babayev traveled to Turkey to withdraw money transferred to banks in that country by Western donors, but this is impossible. As the lawyer emphasized, without a foreign passport, Babayev would not have been able to withdraw money from Turkish banks,” an activist observing the trial told the “Caucasian Knot”.

She also pointed out the lack of documentary evidence and expert conclusions that funds from abroad were deposited into Babayev's bank accounts in Azerbaijan.

Then Ismailova defended another IDI employee Ilkin Amrakhov, also pointing out the groundlessness of the charges against this young man. According to her, Amrakhov also does not have a foreign passport and has not left the country at all.

“The investigation claims that Ilkin Amrakhov allegedly participated in the distribution of money smuggled into the country. However, as the lawyer noted, this is a fabrication, as neither the defendants in the case nor the witnesses testified that they received any sums of money from Ilkin Amrakhov or transferred them to him. Moreover, no funds were deposited into his bank account in Azerbaijan, except for a student scholarship and his own small contributions, and there were certainly no deposits in foreign currency,” the source reported.

The lawyer also pointed out that the conclusion of the fingerprint examination prepared by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan's Criminalistics Department on the banknotes that the investigation considers to be smuggled cannot be regarded as reliable evidence, as both this department and the investigative body are part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Although the defense requested a repeated fingerprint examination during the court investigation, the court denied the request. Moreover, the defense asked to interrogate as a witness the expert who prepared this conclusion, but this was also denied, the lawyer noted.

Ismailova pointed out that the invalidity of the smuggling charges automatically calls into question the other charges due to their interconnection. The lawyer requested the court to issue a verdict of acquittal for both of her clients.

The lawyer Fakhreddin Mehdiyev, defending the founder of Toplum TV and media law expert Alesker Mamedli, stated in his defense speech about the "manipulativeness of the charges".

“The lawyer pointed out that the charges are not supported by material evidence and consist only of interpretations. The defender noted that Alesker Mamedli, as a legal specialist, provided legal services and received monetary compensation for this, duly paying taxes. However, these funds were presented as illegally obtained income. This approach itself contradicts the principles of law. The investigation, claiming the existence of a crime, does not disclose the circumstances of its commission,” the source paraphrased the lawyer's words.

The lawyer of Farid Ismailov Zibeyda Sadigova pointed out that her client was initially under police supervision.

“Farid Ismailov was free during the preliminary investigation. No evidence was collected against him during the investigation. However, after he continued his journalistic activities and defended his arrested colleagues, he was arrested at the end of the investigation. The lawyer requested the court to acquit her client,” an activist present at the court session reported.

The lawyer Rasul Jafarov, defending IDI member Ruslan Izzetli, another IDI employee Ali Zeynal, and Toplum TV journalist Mushfig Jabbarov, also requested the acquittal of his clients. He noted the need to consider the overall political context of the case when legally evaluating the charges.

As Jafarov noted, there are serious obstacles to the activities of independent non-governmental organizations and media structures in Azerbaijan. According to the lawyer, arrests, persecutions, and attacks on journalists occur regularly.

The lawyer emphasized that the defendants became a "target" of persecution not because of any crime, but because of their critical position and professional activities. He also pointed out that the charges are mainly based on the fact that the activities of Toplum TV and IDI were carried out without state registration.

“At the same time, the lawyer pointed out that the Azerbaijani government, in its report to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the implementation of the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, stated that there are no obstacles to the establishment of NGOs in the country, and that state bodies do not differentiate between registered public associations and registered non-profit organizations. Thus, in this sense, the activities of Toplum TV and IDI without state registration are not a crime,” the source paraphrased the lawyer's words.

According to him, since the lawyers of the other defendants have already presented their positions on the case at the previous session, it was announced a week ago that the closing statements of the defense side were completed.

The lawyer Jafarov pointed out to the correspondent of the “Caucasian Knot” the “legal invalidity of the indictment,” which represents a jumble of unrelated facts and subjective interpretations.

“The very form of the indictment is not subject to criticism. The investigative body tried to give the accusation "false legitimacy" by presenting it in a complex and unclear form. Part of the indictment consisted of a single sentence nine pages long (!). Moreover, the charges were complicated in content by the repeated use of template phrases, which are purely subjective conclusions of the investigators, disguised with general formulations like "for selfish motives", "in order to implement their common criminal intent", "developed a long-term systemic plan for committing crimes". Due to the large number of syntactic errors in complex sentences, the essence of the accusation became abstract, unclear, and confusing in places. Thus, the investigative body tried to obscure the charges and give them false legitimacy,” Jafarov said.

An employee of the Baku Serious Crimes Court confirmed to the “Caucasian Knot” that the lawyers' speeches in the process are completed. According to him, at the next session on July 13, the closing statements of the defendants themselves will begin.

Representatives of the prosecution were unavailable for comment.