The trial of Bakhtiyar Hajiyev continues amid disputes

On September 29, the Baku Court of Grave Crimes continued the trial of human rights activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev with a review of the case documents. During this time, a dispute arose between the state prosecutor and Hajiyev.

A video from the Yasamal District Court, depicting an incident between Bakhtiyar Hajiyev and Ulviya Alovlu (Muradova), who is recognized as the victim, was presented as part of the charges.

Zafer Ahmadov, who attended the court session, told Voice of America that the video did not show any acts of violence corresponding to the charges against Hajiyev.

“When Bakhtiyar Hajiyev stated that the charges were baseless, the state prosecutor filed a motion to have him removed from the courtroom. The judge partially granted the motion, given that the stage was for examining documents. However, he did not remove Hajiyev from the courtroom but issued him a written warning,” the human rights defender noted.

At that point, Bakhtiyar Hajiyev declared that he would not participate in the next court session.

The trial will continue on September 25.

Bakhtiyar Hajiyev was arrested in December 2022. At that time, he was charged under Articles 221.2.2 (hooliganism with resistance to a person protecting public order) and 289.1 (contempt of court) of the Criminal Code. It was alleged that an incident occurred between him and Ulviya Alovlu (Muradova) in the Yasamal District Court. According to the charges, Bakhtiyar Hajiyev also used violence against enforcement officer Orkhan Abdullayev during the incident.

On June 16 last year, new charges were brought against the activist, mainly related to financial issues—specifically, the misappropriation of allocated grants. He was also charged under Articles 192 (illegal entrepreneurship), 193-1 (money laundering), 206 (smuggling), and 320 (use of forged documents) of the Criminal Code.

In November of the same year, another charge was brought against him. Hajiyev was additionally charged under Article 213.1 (tax evasion) of the Criminal Code.

Bakhtiyar Hajiyev does not accept any of these charges. He pleads not guilty, claiming that his arrest was politically motivated and that he was being punished for his criticisms of Interior Minister Vilayat Eyvazov.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs, however, has declared these accusations baseless.