▲Uzeyir Mammadli (left), Rashadat Akhundov (centre), and Rashad Hasanov (right). Photo: Ismi Aghayev/OC Media.
The Supreme Court of Azerbaijan has acquitted four members of NIDA, an Azerbaijani pro-democracy movement, overruling a 2014 conviction on drugs and weapons charges.
The four were arrested in the spring of 2013 after organising protests against non-combat deaths in the military. They were sentenced to between seven and eight years in prison by the Baku Court of Grave Crimes on 6 May 2014.
Rashadat Akhundov, Rashad Hasanov, Zaur Gurbanli, and Uzeyir Mammadli were already free following presidential pardons in 2015 and 2016. However, the ruling on 19 November is an official acknowledgement of their innocence.
The court also awarded the four a total of ₼188,000 ($110,000) in compensation between them.
Akhundov told OC Media that it was ‘important that justice was done.’
‘Of course, the decision was overdue, and we will consult with our lawyers again about the amount of the compensation’, he added
Akhundov also paid tribute to Elton Guliyev, a lawyer who passed away in 2015 after defending them upon their arrest. ‘We respect his spirit’, he said.
All four had already won a case against the government in the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled in 2018 that their arrest ‘was to silence and punish them for their active involvement in NIDA.’
Asabali Mustafayev, a lawyer for NIDA, wrote on Facebook that it was ‘commendable that this time the government considered the case without engaging in a long-term dispute with the Council of Europe.’
‘I believe that this decision gives hope for deepening changes in the legal system in the country’, he said, adding that it could lead to future rulings where the right to a fair trial had been violated.
‘I congratulate the former convicts and their lawyers on this decision.’
Pending cases against NIDA members
The four who were acquitted on Friday were convicted in 2014 along with three other members of NIDA.
Ilkin Rustamzade, Shahin Novruzlu, and Mammad Azizov were arrested in April 2013 and charged with hooliganism, for recording a satirical anti-government ‘Harlem Shake’ video in Baku.
A still from NIDA’s Harlem Shake video.
Their cases are still being heard by the Azerbaijani Supreme Court.
The European Court has ruled that the pre-trial detention of Rustamzade, Novruzlu, and Azizov was unlawful, while cases related to their prosecution are still pending in Strasbourg.
Novruzlu and Azizov were released in presidential pardons in 2016, while Rustamzade was not pardoned until 2019, after serving six years behind bars.
Ismi has worked as a journalist since 2017 and is passionate about multimedia journalism. He is particularly interested in peacebuilding and human rights.
Over the last month, Azerbaijan’s official government news agency Azertac has published multiple articles focusing on ethnic Azerbaijani candidates running for the ruling Georgian Dream party, while failing to provide a platform for Azerbaijani opposition candidates.
On 16 October, Azertac interviewed Georgian Dream MP Zaur Darghalli, who said that his party had guaranteed stability in Georgia, and elaborated on how it was able to keep the peace for the last 12 years.
‘These elections are
Ethnic Talysh activist Mirhafiz Jafarzade, who advocated for the creation of Talysh school textbooks in Azerbaijan, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison on charges of treason.
Jafarzade, who is also a Russian citizen, was found guilty of treason in the form of espionage on Thursday. Jafarzade was detained by the authorities in November 2022.
That day, pro-government media reported that the trial had determined that Jafarzade worked ‘in secret cooperation with foreign special services
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has said Azerbaijan is taking ‘constructive’ actions to facilitate the right to return of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, as evidence mounts of the demolition of residential and cultural heritage buildings in Nagorno-Karabakh.
‘We have repeatedly commented on and emphasised the constructive steps taken by Baku to provide the population that left their native places with the opportunity to return there’, Zakharova said during a press briefing o
Peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan appear to be at a standstill as Armenia continues to push for an agreement to be signed ahead of November’s COP29 summit in Baku.
On Tuesday, Sargis Khandanyan, an MP from Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract party, told Armenpress that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan offered to organise a meeting to conclude and sign a peace agreement ahead of the summit, which is scheduled to be held in Baku between 11–22 November.
He said that Pashinyan made the offer
