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2023-05-09 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
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Muslim Unity Activist Denies Accusations, Claims Threat of Torture
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[KavkazUzel] Nijat Aliyev, an activist of the Muslim Unity movement,
| ...MMU for short, also in our archives as the unregistered Movement for Muslim Unity — no doubt an artifact of the translation. They describe themselves as a peaceful Shiite Islamic socio-political movement that calls for democratic reform and religious liberties, but it’s clear from context that they mean the peace that comes from submission to Khomeini Shiism and Iran... |
said in court that drugs were planted on him after his arrest. Aliyev agreed to the seizure of drugs under video recording under the threat of rape with a rubber truncheon, his lawyer said.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that a member of the Muslim Unity Movement (MMU) Nijat Aliyev was detained on December 1 in the village of Masazir, a representative of the organization called his detention unreasonable. On December 6, it became known that Aliyev was charged under a criminal article on drug trafficking.
On January 25, 2017, the leader of the Muslim Unity movement, Taleh Bagirzade,
| ...also known as Bagirov, in his youth the Azerbaijani Shiite studied theology in Iran, then came home to found the Movement for Muslim Unity, translatable as Al Tawheed. He was sentenced to 20 years for murder, terrorism, organization of mass riots, illegal possession of weapons, and attempted forcible seizure of power, because he led the festivities. Authorities accused him and the Muslim Unity Movement of planning an armed insurrection against the state, claiming they’d thrown Molotov cocktails and opened fire on the police officers during a 2017 raid, in their interpretation of Khomeinism... |
and 17 of his supporters were sentenced to terms of 10 to 20 years on charges of organizing riots after the operation of the security forces in November 2015, which resulted in the death of seven people, including two policemen, says the reference of the "Caucasian Knot" Nardaran.
The defendants complained of torture and pleaded not guilty. Azerbaijani human rights activists recognized the defendants in the "Nardaran case" as political prisoners. Subsequently, some of the convicts were released on pardon and the end of their term.
The case of the arrested Muslim Unity activist is at the stage of judicial investigation, on charges of illegal defense of drugs on a large scale (Article 234.4.3 of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan), he faces five to 12 years in prison. At today's court session, Nijat Aliyev answered questions from the defense, his lawyer Shahla Gumbatova told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent .
The lawyer spoke about the circumstances of Aliyev's detention on December 1. The activist lived in the village of Masazir, where he was detained and taken to one of the units of law enforcement agencies.
“Aliyev was in his car in the parking lot, he was approached (unidentified people) and said that state license plates allegedly fell out from the back of the car. As soon as Aliyev got out of the car, he was detained. He was required to confess that drugs were found on him, otherwise he was threatened with rape with a rubber truncheon. He was forced to agree to his personal search in front of a video camera. Before recording, they put three bags of methamphetamine in his pocket with a total weight of 11 grams,” the lawyer stated the version of the defense, based on the testimony of Aliyev himself.
Humbatova drew attention to the fact that almost two hours elapsed between Aliyev's detention and his search. “Nijat Aliyev was detained at 14.10, and the search was carried out at 16.00. This is a violation of the requirements of the national procedural legislation and the precedent decisions of the ECtHR, which require a search to be carried out immediately at the place of detention in order to avoid abuse by law enforcement officers,” she said.
A search was also carried out in Aliyev's car, but no drugs were found there. “It is interesting that no search was carried out in Aliyev's house, although the detention order indicated the need for a personal search, searches in the car and in the house. If a person is suspected of illegal drug trafficking on a large scale, then it would be more logical to conduct a search at home, because he could have drugs at home. This gives reason to believe that the security forces were sure that there were no drugs there,” said Shahla Gumbatova.
She noted that there are other procedural violations in the case. According to her, during the initial interrogation, Aliyev did not even have a lawyer by appointment, and his signature in the protocol was put after the fact. “The protocol on the personal search was drawn up only the next day after the arrest,” the lawyer added.
According to the lawyer, the investigation did not clarify the question of how the drugs got to Aliyev. “Having discovered drugs from Aliyev, the investigation had to find out where they came from in order to bring the supplier to justice. However, the indictment says that Aliyev purchased drugs "under unidentified circumstances, from unidentified persons," Humbatova explained.
Only the operatives who detained him act as witnesses in Aliyev's case, there are no other witnesses. There were no witnesses during the personal search of the activist: the law allows the procedure to be carried out without them, subject to video filming.
Answering the lawyer's questions in court, Aliyev confirmed that he was not searched at the place of detention, drugs were put on him before the video recording, no protocol was drawn up during the search, and the interrogation after detention was carried out without the participation of a lawyer by appointment. According to the defender, the next court session is scheduled for June 2.
The arrest of Nijat Aliyev put his family in a difficult financial situation, Chinara Aliyeva, the activist's wife, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent .
“Nijat was the only breadwinner in our family, where there are three young children, two daughters and a son. He transported passengers in his car, providing taxi services. I don't work, I raise children. An elderly mother, Nijata, also lives with us,” she said.
The woman noted that now the family lives on financial assistance from relatives. “But everyone has their own worries, life is difficult for everyone now, the help of our relatives and friends is enough only for the most necessary things,” she said.
Chinara considers the accusations made against her husband unfounded. “Nijat is a deeply religious person. He doesn’t even smoke cigarettes, and drugs and alcohol are completely unacceptable things for him, which should be avoided. The real reason for Nijat's arrest is that he always protested against the persecution of believers. Last summer, he was arrested for 10 days for this,” the activist’s wife emphasized.
DME board member Agali Yakhyaev also considers Aliyev's criminal prosecution unfounded. He recalled that the movement has been under pressure since its inception.
“In November 2015, the leadership of the movement was arrested during a police operation in the village of Nardaran , then arrests of Muslim Unity activists took place throughout the country. Dozens of people were arrested and convicted. Although most of them have already been released, arrests of DME members have continued. A new wave began in the autumn of last year: in November-December, Shahin Gadirli, Nijat Aliyev, Samir Babayev, Mirtofig Huseynov were arrested. Then new arrests followed, in January-March of this year, another 33 of our activists were arrested. These arrests coincide in time with periods of exacerbation of Azerbaijani-Iranian relations. If Iran is a Shiite country, the believing Shiites of Azerbaijan should not give up their religion,” Yahyaev told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.
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Posted by badanov 2023-05-09 00:00||
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