The accused have pleaded innocent
On July 11
th
, Baku high criminal court began hearings related to the building fire which took place in Binagadi district of Baku on May 19th of 2015. 15 people lost their lives and 50 people were injured in the fire.
A Meydan TV correspondent reported that judge Afghan Hajiyev presided over the pre – trial hearings.
Nushaba Aghayeva is the council for one of the accused, Ghazanfar Novruzov. Ilhama Hasanova, council for the defense of yet another accused, Miryusif Makhmudov, petitioned the court for permission to make use of technical equipment including computers, monitors and a DVD player for the presentation of evidence in defense of her client. The court rejected the petition.
During the hearing, one of the victims, Sabina Manafova, asked the court to correct the calculation of damages. She said that during the investigation into the calculated damages, her mother’s name was written incorrectly and the total damages were incorrect as well. “My mother’s name was written wrong. We told the investigator that he had made a mistake and that he should fix it.” The judge granted her request to have the spelling changed.
Last year, a 19-story building in the Binagadi district of Baku caught fire when polyurethane, which was used on the exterior of the building, caught fire.
The material is produced by Global Stone and Global Construction. The founder of both companies is Yusuf Mahmudov. Global Stone LLC’s general manager is Ughur Bashirov, and Global Construction’s vice president is Alakbar Asgarov. Adalat Rajabov was the former chief of the Binagadi
Housing Association from 2012 to 2013. Nizami Orujov was the Operational Housing Head for Binagadi 72, and Ghazanfar Novruzov was the contractor for the building which was eventually covered with the polyurethane and worked as Binagadi’s head executive’s secretary from 2012-2013.
All the aforementioned have been accused under articles 225.2 (criminal negligence resulting in death and other serious consequences in violation of fire safety protocol) and 308.2 (abuse of authority and causing serious damage) of the Criminal Code, both of which carry a prison sentence.
