The court upheld the sentence against Zamin Zaki.

The Supreme Court of Azerbaijan dismissed the cassation appeal of activist Zamin Zaki, convicted in the "NGO case." The defense pointed out the absence of his name in financial documents related to grant projects and stated its intention to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", the court sentenced Zamin Zaki to 7 years and 3 months in prison. Zaki himself did not plead guilty. On July 1, the Baku Court of Appeal dropped the charges against Zaki under Article 313 (official forgery) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan and reduced the sentence by three months.

The Supreme Court of Azerbaijan held a hearing today on the cassation appeal of activist Zamin Zaki.

As reported by a member of the human rights group "Defense Line" Zafar Akhmedov, the hearings were conducted without the participation of the activist himself.

"At the meeting chaired by Judge Ilkin Rajabov, lawyer Gunay Ismayilova drew the Supreme Court judges' attention to the fact that the courts of first and appellate instances did not conduct an objective investigation and did not satisfy the defense's motions," Akhmedov said.

Moreover, the lawyer pointed out that Zamin Zaki's name does not appear in any financial documents related to civil society projects. The documents related to financing, training, and payments were issued in the name of another person, Akhmedov relayed the lawyer Ismayilova's words.

According to him, the lawyer was interrupted, noting that defenders in the cassation instance are given only 2 minutes to speak.

"Judge Ilkin Rajabov said that considering that 'this is a problematic case,' he allowed the lawyer to speak for 10 minutes, but that was too long and the speech needed to be concluded. At the same time, the judge did not explain what the 'problematic' nature of the case was," the human rights defender noted.

The lawyer requested an acquittal for her client. However, the court dismissed the cassation appeal, upholding the decision of the appellate court, Akhmedov indicated.

During the session, it was also noted that Zamin Zaki's name does not appear in any financial documents. The documents related to financing, training, and payments were issued in the name of another person.

Lawyer Ismayilova told a correspondent of "Caucasian Knot" that since Zaki has already gone through all national judicial instances, the defense will now prepare a complaint to the ECHR.

Zaki's activities were of a public nature; he did not hold any positions and therefore could not have committed official crimes, Ismayilova believes. "The investigation qualified the use of grants as 'legalization of income obtained by criminal means.' However, the origin of these funds cannot be considered 'criminal.' These funds were financial assistance to civil society. The claims that the grants were not registered are not sufficient for criminal prosecution. Azerbaijani legislation only provides for administrative liability for the use of unregistered grants," the lawyer previously noted.

An employee of the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan confirmed to a correspondent of "Caucasian Knot" that Zaki's cassation appeal was dismissed.

Representatives of the prosecution were unavailable for comment.

The criminal case against local and foreign NGOs was opened back in 2014. At that time, there was a wave of arrests of well-known human rights defenders. Subsequently, they were released early, and the case was suspended. But in March of this year (2025), the case was resumed, taking on the scale of a campaign against the remnants of civil society. More than 100 people were involved in the investigation, including representatives of pro-government NGOs and employees of international donor organizations. Most were interrogated with warnings of new summons, but more than 10 individuals were charged, some in absentia, as they managed to leave the country," an expert in law, who wished to remain unnamed, previously said.

Recall that earlier a court in Baku sentenced activists Narghiz Mukhtarova and Mehriban Ragimli to 7.5 years in prison conditionally for charges of legalizing illegal income, also prosecuted in the NGO case. For the same charges, activist Galib Bayramov received 8 years in prison conditionally with a three-year probation period.

Activist Hafiz Gasanov was also sentenced to eight years in prison conditionally with a three-year probation period. Activist Asef Akhmedov received a real prison sentence of 8 years.