In Azerbaijan, the trial of Elshan Najafov, accused of a terrorist act and an attempt on the life of a state official or public figure, continued.
The “Report” reports that Elshan Najafov gave his own testimony in the trial before the Baku Court of Serious Crimes, presided over by Judge Ayten Aliyeva.
He said he has higher education and worked in the public service.
“I went to work in the morning and came home. Last year, I was detained in the morning by State Security Service personnel. However, I didn’t know why.”
I am 39 years old and have been working at the Ministry of Science and Education for 10 years.
Answering the prosecutor’s questions, Elshan Najafov said that he used the social network “Facebook”:
“I voted for Rahim Aliyev because of the book. It was a book about a British spy. I found it interesting.”
The prosecutor asked the defendant: “Did you write a status on your Facebook profile under another name about the seizure of power in Azerbaijan and the forced change of the constitution?”
Elshan Najafov said that the profile belongs to him:
“I was interested in some things related to Sharia. I asked some people about it. The only reason was whether it was a sin or not.”
When E. Najafov answered the lawyer’s questions, he said that he asked several people via the “Telegram” channel:
“When I looked at social media, I saw posts about killing people on some profiles. I also wrote a question to a user named Rahim Aliyev: is it halal or haram to kill some state officials according to Islamic Sharia? He made such speeches, that’s why I addressed this question to him. I deleted those messages after a while.”
The lawyer pointed out that the file states that Elshan Najafov was following the embassy of a foreign country in Azerbaijan, and he asked his client about this.
When questioned by the lawyer, the defendant said that he did not follow the embassy, he simply passed by that part of the road.
The trial will continue on October 3.
It should be noted that 38-year-old Elshan Najafov was detained in September 2023 during a special operation conducted by the State Security Service.
The indictment filed against Elshan Najafov states that, in collusion with another citizen of the Republic of Azerbaijan living in the territory of a foreign country, during the visit of foreign state officials to Azerbaijan, he had the opportunity to attack them and Azerbaijani state and public figures at a public event and took preparatory steps to carry out a terrorist attack. Audio recordings in which he expresses his determination in this regard and sends them to the accomplice have been added to the case material. The latter stated that Elshan Najafova would be considered a “martyr” if she was killed during the execution of the plan.
Since Elshan Najafov was exposed and detained by DTX personnel, he could not attempt to commit the aforementioned terrorist acts independently of his will.
He was charged with 28.277 of the Criminal Code (preparing the murder of a state official or public figure) and other articles.
