The trial of historian scientist Sabuhi Huseynov and his wife Gulustan Isayeva, accused of embezzling 192,000 manat allocated for an expedition in Karabakh, continues.
Publika.az quoting Qafqazinfo, it is reported that 14 of the witnesses against whom a decision was made to be forcibly brought by the police in the previous sessions still do not appear in court.
The session held at the Baku Serious Crimes Court was also held without witnesses. The presiding judge, Azad Majidov, started the session by complaining about the witnesses who did not come to his summons.
For information, let’s say that the decision to re-bring the witnesses who evaded the court was repeatedly taken, and a letter was sent to various institutions, including the vice-president of the National Academy of Sciences, Govhar Bakhshaliyeva.
At the next meeting, lawyer Orkhan Zeynalov, the prosecutor and representative of ANAS, proposed to stop the fight about the non-appearing witnesses and announce their previous statements.
“In no case does the court accept such a decision of forced importation. We have applied to several places,” the prosecutor said.
The presiding judge reiterated that the court uses all means to bring the remaining witnesses: “We have applied to the Baku City Chief Police Department, ANAS, local police departments – everywhere. They send witnesses to confirm what we said during the investigation. We wrote a letter to the vice president, knowingly or unknowingly, he didn’t answer. What should we do?! You tell me.”
One of those 14 witnesses is Maisa Rahimova, the former director of the Institute of Archaeology, Ethnography and Anthropology. The accused historian-scientist said in the previous meetings that he gave the money to Maisa Rahimova for the people whose salaries were written in the name of the expedition, but who did not actually come to work.
Recently, the court received information that M. Rahimova had a stroke.
“Maisa Rahimova had a stroke after Sabuhi Huseynov said that he gave her the money here. She must have read what was written in the media,” judge Azad Majidov said.
Doctor of history Maisa Rahimova, who worked at ANAS for 54 years, was dismissed in 2021. Ramiz Mehdiyev was the president of ANAS at that time. He is the godfather of People’s Artist Zeynab Khanlarova.
In the photo: Maisa Rahimova
Accused persons and their lawyers demand that all witnesses appear before the judge. Sabuhi Huseynov believes that they were accused based on the statements of the witnesses, and therefore they should come and speak at the meetings: “The statements of the witnesses can reveal a big crime. The money of the people who did not participate in the expedition was embezzled. And Maisa Rahimova is the organizer of this crime. She, including , one of the main witnesses, chief accountant Zuriya Jafarova, should be interrogated. The well-known historian is being tried, but the witnesses are not coming to court.”
Judge Sabuhi asked Huseynov to tell what happened honestly: “How long have we been doing business, you admitted only in the last meetings that I gave money to Maisa Rahimova. I suggest that you tell everything correctly.”
Gulistan Isayeva also wants each of the witnesses to be brought to court. He named them one by one and announced who should speak in front of the judge: “Witnesses willingly went to the Chief Anti-Corruption Department under the Prosecutor General. That’s why they should also come to the court.”
“It’s hard for them to come. But we will still try to bring them,” said Judge Majidov, adjourning the process until May 15.
It should be noted that Sabuhi Huseynov was a researcher at the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, and his wife Gulustan Isayeva was the head of the personnel department. They are accused of misappropriating 92,000 manats allocated for research in Karabakh. The accused do not accept the charge.
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