In Baku, at trial of bloggers victim and witnesses give evidences

Today, the Sabail District Court of the capital of Azerbaijan, chaired by Judge Araz Guseinov, continued judicial hearings on the case of young bloggers Adnan Gadjizade and Emin Milli, accused of hooliganism and infliction of bodily injuries. Evidences were presented by the victim and witnesses.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports from Baku that before the session advocate Isakhan Ashurov had asked the court to provide the defendants' parents with an opportunity to meet their children, according to the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights. The judge answered that such opportunity will be provided after the session.

In the course of the session the victim Guseinov gave his evidences. To the question of advocate Elton Guliev, if Guseinov could recognize the girls, who became the cause of the fight, the victim answered in the negative. He just repeated: "Emin struck Vusal, and Adnan struck me."

Guseinov also gave a negative answer to the question, whether he would recognize the policeman who brought him to the police station. He asserted that had spent some 8-9 days in hospital; however, he could not explain what the matter was with him - he only said that he had pain in his side.

To the question about the form of the application that he filed to the police, Guseinov made an unexpected confession: "I wrote what a policeman told me to write."

The victim, having admitted that he practiced the Wu-shu martial art, could not answer the question how the defendant could beat him - an athlete.

Further, the evidence of the witness Ilkin Alizade - the owner of the "Lebanon" restaurant - was listened to. Mr Alizade said that he did not see the fight as such; he was told about it by phone. According to his story, the restaurant suffered the damage of 40-50 manats (44-60 US dollars). Besides, as he said, the defendants did not pay the bill; however, he "had no claims to them."

The waitress Gyulshan Mamedova, also a witness on the case, said that she did not see who started the fight. To the question of the advocate whether she had noticed the girls who were dissatisfied with the behaviour of the defendants, she answered in the negative.

Rizvan Alizade, father of the restaurant owner, who was in the restaurant, said that he saw some 7-8 persons coming up to two sitting visitors. However, he also could not see who had started the fight.

Both Alizade-senior and the waitress, unlike the restaurant owner, said that Adnan and Emin had paid their bill.

Neither the security, nor the father of the restaurant owner, nor the waitress could confirm that they heard any swearing in the hall. Under assertions of the victims, the obscene words of the defendants had displeased certain girls; then, a warning was made to Gadjizade and Milli; and it was the reason of the fight.