On June 11, 2015, in the Olympic Village built for the European Games, a driver working for the company “Bakubus” lost control of his vehicle and collided with members of the Austrian synchronized swimming team, as a result of which three team mates received heavy injuries: Vanessa Shakhinovich, Luna Paser and Venera Vreit.
The court hearing concerning the incident is now coming to an end:
Turan News Agency reports that at the June 4th hearing, prosecutor Eldar Khamzaev urged the court to sentence the bus – driver to three years in prison, and asked that police employee, Elchin Hasanov, be sentenced to seven years imprisonment for his ‘inappropriate’ distribution of a video portraying the event on social media.
He requested a further seven years for the head of the Auto-Transport Division of the Ministry of Transport, Huseyn Salamov, and five years for an employee of the Baku Division of Passenger Transport, Farid Amiraslanov. Apart from Farid Amiraslanov, all of the accused are currently under arrest.
In the process of the hearing it was noted that Azerbaijan will have to pay compensation and damage fees for injuries to Austrian sportswoman, Vanessa Shakhinovich to the amount of 1,200,000 euros.
While presenting evidence, Huseyn Salamov said that candidates who applied to be bus drivers for the European Games had been checked and verified by the Ministry of National Security and the Special Service. After the first round of checks, Veli Akhmedov’s name was checked off of the list, but was reinstated after a second round of verifications.
The driver’s lawyer stated that Veli Akhmedov is a refugee, and recognizes his guilt in the matter. His crime falls under Article 263 UK, manslaughter. Considering that the man had already spent more than a year in prison, the lawyer asked for his release.
As concerns the member of the National Police who circulated the video, his lawyer urged the court to acquit him: “Elchin Hasanov was already punished – he was fired from his position with the police. Accusations that he wanted to compromise the European Games and the prestige of the government are neither founded nor justified.” he said. At the next meeting on July 11, the defense will prevent further evidence.
