A hearing on the case of former officer of Azerbaijani Army Kamran Asadov and 19 others was held in the Court of Grave Crimes on Wednesday.One of the defendants Hajibala Huseynov gave testimony. He spoke about Akhund of Abu Bakr mosque Haji Gamat Suleymanov as well. He denied his evidence giving to the investigators that Haji Gamat intended to commit jihad in Azerbaijan and said that he belonged to salafi sect. “He is not able to commit jihad in Azerbaijan”.
The accused man said religious laws were not correctly observed in Azerbaijan. Huseynov said they advocated for “jihad for defense” and supported jihad declared in Chechnya against Russia. “Not depending on the sects, we are also supporting the nagshbandi struggle”. When the judge told him “Then you are supporting Armenian actions in Karabakh too”, another accused man Ilkin Ismayilov answered him. He said it was not correct to compare Armenian actions with Chechens. Ismayilov spoke about Sheikh Shamil and said that he struggled against Russia for long years for independence of Azerbaijan.
Then Huseynov developed his testimony and spoke about the activity of former chairman of the State Committee for Work with Religious Associations Rafig Aliyev. He said they were satisfied with his activity. Huseynov said he delivered religious speeches before hundred people in Mashtaga Village. Kamran Asadov called Huseynov “kafir” (unbeliever) and said he was against the rules he set once.
Kamran Asadov, Bakhtiyar Orujov, Farid Jabbarov, Elshan Mammadov, Kamran Babayev, Samir Mehbaliyev, Terlan Karimov, Edgar Aliyev, Ramil Karimov, Shirvani Babayev, Samir Aliyev, Yalchin Maharramov, Orkhan Alizadeh, Hajibala Huseynov, Azer Ibadov, Shahriyar Mehraliyev, Ramin Jalilov, Rovshan Abdulaliyev, Ilkin Ismayilov and Vugar Aliyev are accused of setting up a radical religious group, attempting to start military struggle, attacking on LUKoil petrol station in Baku, preparing terror attack on the U.S. and UK embassies in Azerbaijan.