Скачать или смотреть CRIMINAL CASE AGAINST OFFICER WHO CRITICIZED THE SPECIAL STATE PROTECTION SERVICE

The Office of the Military Prosecutor has filed a criminal case against former officer Asif Latifov, a whistleblower on corruption in the Special State Protection Service (SSPS).



He was charged under Article 228.1 (illegal possession and transportation of fire-arms) and Article 232.2.3 (extortion of a weapon by person using service position). Latifov denies the charges.



Alakbar Mammadov, head of the Center for the Democratic and Civil Control of Armed Forces, said that these charges are "nonsense". He believes that Latifov's only error was to give an AK 762 bullet which he found while on duty to the internal investigation center instead of giving it to his direct commander, Fikrat Rzayev of the Betta detachment.



The fact that the criminal case was launched a year after the case suggests that these are trumped- up charges, said the human rights defender. He drew attention to another similar case where Latifov found a pistol on the roof of the Cabinet of Ministers, and received a large sum of money in reward.



The human rights defender alleged that the order to charge Latifov comes from the deputy head of the Special State Protection Service, the head of President's Private Guard Service Baylar Ayyubov. According to Mammadov, the investigators of the General and Military Prosecutors' Offices have implied that the criminal case against Latifov is linked with his outspokenness on issues of corruption to the press.



All Asif Latifov is asking is that his rights be respected, he says. He is particularly disappointed that he was fired, allegedly on the grounds that he was unfit for service. Both Sabail District Court and the Baku Appeals Court have refused to grant his lawsuits. Thus, he has turned to the Supreme Court. He will go to European Court of Human Rights if necessary.



Latifov has also been threatened with being sectioned in a mental health clinic if he doesn't stops speaking with the media. As of October 2011, the officer has been speaking to the press about the nepotism in the guard service, particularly in relation to relatives of service head Vagif Akhundov and his deputy Baylar Ayyubov.