Advocates of arrested Azerbaijani bloggers file complaints against MIA and Prosecutor's Office

Isakhan Ashurov and Elton Guliev, advocates of arrested youth activists and bloggers Adnan Gadjizade and Emin Milli, accused of hooliganism, have laid an action to the Sabail District Court of Baku against the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and the State Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan. In the opinion of the advocates, these bodies have broken the presumption of innocence principle.

Mr Ashurov said to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the action was initiated after the statements made by the above bodies on July 11 and 14 on the criminal case against the youth activists and bloggers Adnan Gadjizade and Emin Milli.

"The above joint statements of the MIA and the State Prosecutor's Office said about the guilt of Messrs Gadjizade and Milli; however, their guilty can be found by the court only, but there was no trial yet," said Mr Ashurov.

He also said that on July 30 he visited Gadjizade and Milli at the isolation facility. "They didn't complain of their custody conditions; but they look depressed by the fact that so far they could not see their parents and other relatives. Such restriction is illegal," the advocate has emphasized.

Meanwhile, on July 31, the advocates of the young bloggers also lodged an appeal complaint to the Baku Appeal Court against the decision of the Sabail District Court passed on July 23.

"The youth activists ask the court to recognize the violations admitted against them by the police of the Sabail District of Articles 3 and 6 of the European Conventions on Human Rights (right to fair trial and inadmissibility of inhuman treatment," advocate Ashurov explains.

In the meantime, on July 31, Jorg Tauss, a Bundestag Deputy, was not allowed to meet the arrested bloggers Adnan Gadjizade and Emin Milli, as reported to "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Khikmet Gadjizade, Adnan Gadjizade's father and a well-known political scientist.

We remind you that the German MP had specially arrived to Baku to visit the bloggers.

It has proved impossible to get any comments at the Investigatory Department of the Sabail District Police on the issue; while the Penitentiary Service has stated that their officials cannot authorize such meetings, since "this is the authority of the inquiry bodies." The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has also failed to contact the German MP directly.