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Trial of Azerbaijani ministryâ€™s ex-official continues

19 July 2017 11:34 (UTC +04:00)

The Baku Court of Grave Crimes on Wednesday continued the trial in the criminal case involving Vidadi Zeynalov, head of the Office of the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies of Azerbaijan, and others arrested with him, APA reported.

The accused persons made their final plea, with Zeynalov rejecting the bill of indictment. He noted that he was always strived for the development of the area he worked in.

“I have served the country’s leadership, our state, and our people with loyalty. I have never done anything bad to anyone. Throughout my life, I’ve strived for a better life for people,” he said.

Another accused Mahammad Mammadov said that he and the other accused persons had carried out important work in the sphere of communications. Mammadov admitted that he made mistakes: "Yes, we had mistakes. I also ask for a fair decision. "

Accused Beytulla Huseynov said that he also made mistakes: "However, unfortunately, despite the fact that we had an important work in the sphere of communications, we are represented in the press as criminals. I'm sorry about that. Yes, we had mistakes. Therefore, I ask you to take into account our work and make a fair decision in respect of us.”

Another accused Ogtay Rustamov said that his activities were not criminal. He also asked the court to make a fair decision in respect of him.

The trial will continue on July 25.

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12:04

Speaking at the trial, Zeynalov’s lawyer, Mugham Aliyev, asked the court for hid defendant’s acquittal. Stressing that none of the charges brought against Zeynalov were proved during the investigation, the lawyer argued that there was no embezzlement in his defendant’s activities.

Later on, the judge stated that defendant Gambar Baybalayev has fully paid for the damage caused.

The trial is ongoing.

The defendants are accused of causing psychological and physical harm to entrepreneurs, demanding a large sum of money in exchange for releasing them, threatening their relatives with violence, arrest, and releasing embarrassing information about them. By this means, they managed to appropriate of 162 victims a total of 18,437,000 manats as well as monetary funds worth 6,449,000 manats, jewelry and real estate worth 5,693,000 manats, taking 5,295,000 manats in the form of bribe, and embezzling 1,000,000 allocated from the state budget.

The court ordered seizure on property and cash worth of 21,528,000 manats, as well as real estate worth of 20,971,000 manats, vehicles worth of 272,000 manats, jewelry and other valuable goods worth of 42,000 manats, cash worth of 88,000 manats, 88,000 US dollars and 5,000 euros belonging to the defendants – Subahir Gurbanov, Fizuli Aliyev, Zaur Mammadov, Natig Aliyev, Teymur Guliyev, Natavan Murvatova and the others.

They are charged under articles 145.3 (illegal imprisonment on negligence ended with death of the victim or other serious consequences), 178.3.1, 178.3.2 (swindle committed by organized group with causing damage on a large scale), 179.3.1, 179.3.2 (embezzlement by an organized group on a large scale), 181.3.1, 181.3.2 (robbery, committed by an organized group, with a view to seizing the property on a large scale), 182.3.1, 182.3.2 (extortion, committed by an organized group in order to obtain property on a large scale), 228.4 (illegal purchase, selling, storage and carrying fire arms, bladed weapons), 302.1, 302.2 (infringement of the legislation on operative-search activity with the use of technical means, intended for secret information), 311.3.1, 311.3.2, 311.3.3, 311.3.4 (reception of a bribe, committed by a group of persons or an organized group repeatedly or on a large scale, using threats), 313 (service forgery), 320.1, 320.2 (fake of official documents and use of obviously counterfeit documents) and 341.2.1, 341.2.2, 341.2.3 (abusing authority, excess or inactivity of authority, committed by a group of persons with the use of weapons, resulted in grave consequences).