Insaf Aliev

Apprehended

Tortured

Violence

Prisoner

I. Aliev

Insaf
Aliev

Insaf Aliyev, a 34-year-old Georgian citizen of Azerbaijani origin, is one of the eight protest participants whose case Transparency International Georgia assesses as politically motivated. According to the organization, this prosecution aims to intimidate society, especially students and young people, and Aliyev's specific charge might also serve as a signal to ethnic minorities. Aliyev, who came from Russia a few years ago, lives with his wife and two children in the village of Karajala and is self-employed. According to his lawyer, Orkhan Aliyev, Insaf Aliyev does not speak or understand the Georgian language.

Aliyev was arrested during the protests near the Parliament. The prosecutor's office charged him, along with Tornike Goshadze and three other individuals, with participating in group violence (Article 225, Part 2 of the Criminal Code), which carries a sentence of 4 to 6 years in prison. His lawyer explains that Aliyev ended up on Rustaveli Avenue by chance and did not initially participate in the rally, but "got angry" after being hit by a water cannon.

The prosecution relies on video footage where, they claim, Insaf Aliyev (a man in a black hoodie) throws a stone twice and periodically hides behind barricades. However, according to Transparency International Georgia's analysis, which covers the entire case of these 8 individuals, such video material was likely obtained through illegal covert surveillance, in violation of the law, and is therefore inadmissible evidence (under the "fruit of the poisonous tree" doctrine).

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Politically Motivated Case of So-Called "Group Violence" against 8 Protest Participants

Besides the questionable origin of the evidence, Aliyev's lawyer considers the charge baseless also because, due to the language barrier, his client physically could not have communicated with other alleged members of the group violence and, consequently, could not have participated in an organized group action. This argument aligns with Transparency International's conclusion that there is no evidence of a pre-organized group in the entire case, most defendants did not even know each other, and any actions were spontaneous. Furthermore, according to the organization's analysis, no causal link can be established between the alleged actions of the defendants (e.g., stone-throwing) and the specific injuries sustained by the police officers recognized as victims.

During one of the hearings at the Tbilisi City Court, Insaf Aliyev's lawyer filed a motion for his client's release on 10,000 GEL bail.

«I will not flee anywhere, I was arrested at work, I have a 3-year-old child, I also have an elderly grandmother. I support everyone, and accordingly, I will not flee anywhere»
—Aliyev's address to court

Despite this, the prosecution requested that the "prisoners of the regime" remain in custody, citing the "risk of fleeing" and "committing further offenses." (In the initial stage of the case, Judge Irakli Khuskivadze had ordered all eight defendants remanded in pre-trial detention without even retiring to deliberate).

Ultimately, the case of Insaf Aliyev, like those of the other members of this group, is fraught with legal question marks. The language barrier makes the charge of participating in group violence even more absurd, while the likely illegality of the evidence and the absence of the elements of a crime reinforce suspicions of political motivation and targeted persecution.

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