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Azerbaijani Defense Ministry official is at law with the human rights defender Alekper Mamedov who published information about the murders of soldiers in Azerbaijani Army in order to sale their organs later. It is noteworthy that parents of soldiers on whose words the defender based his statements confirm his words, however, and they are also under pressure.

As the article published in Azerbaijani newspaper Zerkalo says, lawsuit against Alekper Mammadov was filed by the medical examiner of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry Rasim Aliyev on October 1, in 2012. Aliyev accuses Mammadov of slandering and demands to fine the defender at 100,000 Euros. “The trial that continues for over 5 months, is used for keeping the head of the Azerbaijani Center of democratic civic control, human rights defender Alekper Mamedov, under pressure. They try to keep his mouth shut,” said Director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy Leyla Yunus at a press conference.

According to Yunus, this is not the first case of human rights defenders’ persecution in Azerbaijan. Alekper Mamedov actively lobbied against negative phenomena in the army. This suggests that the pressure on human rights defender is initiated by the Ministry of Defense,” Leyla Yunus stated.

As Leyla Yunus noted, human rights advocate Alekper Mamedov did not make any remarks against Rasim Aliyev therefore, the honor and dignity of the plaintiff are not affected, thus the suit is absurd. As Mamedov noted, though they have advanced a civil suit against him, they can also nail him on charges. Thus, if the court obliges Mamedov to pay 100,000 Euros and he pays it then he will be subjected to criminal prosecution.

As the human rights activist noted, not only he is kept under pressure, but also the parents of the soldiers who demand a fair investigation of the death of their sons. “Thus, a criminal case was filed against Jahan Iskenderli, father of Parviz Iskenderli, who, according to the official version, had hanged himself up at the military unit on July 14 last year. He tried to conduct an independent investigation over the death of his son, but was detained by the police. Jahan Iskenderli was released only after the intervention of the Zerkalo newspaper,” Mamedov stated.

The parents of Parviz Iskenderli - Jahan and Cephas Iskenderli who were present at the press conference, confirmed the words of Alekper Mammadov.

Alekper Mammadov also noted that the parents of the dead soldiers declare about the facts of the crime to the Prosecutor's Office Military, the crime investigator, however, ignore those facts. Thus, during the investigation over Elshan Novruzov’s death, who, according to official version, died of meningitis in August 2012, the investigator refused to listen to the arguments of his mother Salbi Novruzova and said that she could complain to whoever she wanted. Novruzova managed to reach Khanlar Veliyev, the Military Prosecutor of Azerbaijan who agreed with her arguments and ordered another investigator to carry out the investigation, Alekper Mammadov said.

After the press conference the correspondent of the newspaper contacted with Elshan Novruzov's mother Salbi Novruzov, and she fully confirmed Alekper Mammadov's words.

Last year Alekper Mammadov and relatives of soldier killed in the Azerbaijani army gave press conferences repeatedly telling how in the Army of Azerbaijan the organs of their relatives were taken out. It was noted that some oligarchs and officials of Azerbaijan needed internal organs. As Mamedov reported the military prosecutor of Nakhchivan Yashar Hasanov hired a killer for shooting him down. In 2012 in the Azerbaijani Armed Forces at least 97 soldiers have been killed, 80% of which died in non-combat situation.