Hajizada and Milli trial begins, continued until Friday

Police arrested supporters and the defense attorneys ridiculed a witness as the first day of the trial of alumnus Adnan Hajizada got underway Wednesday.

The two men who claim Hajizada and fellow activist Emin Milli attacked them on July 8 in a restaurant, Babek Huseynov and Vusal Mammadov, gave testimony about the fight.

Hajizada's lawyer and Milli's lawyer ridiculed Mammadov when he gave answers they considered vague and said he could not give the answers because he had not been properly coached by the prosecution, according to a story posted on EurasiaNet.org.

The trial will be continued on Friday.

Transcripts of text messages and recordings of phone calls from Hajizada to his girlfriend, Parvana Persiani, were initially not allowed as evidence during the trial, but the judge permitted them to be heard in court, Persiani said.

Persiani and Hajizada were in constant communication the day Hajizada and Milli were involved in the fight that led to their arrest, Persiani said, including when Hajizada told her that he had been attacked and was on his way to report the incident to the police.

Several supporters of Hajizada and Milli were outside the courtroom wearing "I am a hooligan" t-shirts. A video from the Turan Information Agency that was posted on YouTube showed several men wearing the shirts being escorted into police cars by plain- clothed officers. At one point, an officer attempted to take a shirt from one man, who was later put into a police car.

Various news agencies reported that six men who were supporting Hajizada and Milli outside the courthouse were arrested and later released.

As Hajizada and Milli were leaving the courthouse, police pulled an ambulance to the door so that they were not visible to the crowd. Several uniformed police officers lined the street to keep people away from the ambulance as it drove away. When Hajizada and Milli were put into the ambulance, the crowd went into chants.

There are also reports by bloggers that two female witnesses have come forward and said that they were in the restaurant the night of the fight and were offended by Hajizada and Milli's conversation.

A blogger who supports Hajizada and Milli, Arzu Geybulla, tweeted that only foreign representatives and relatives were allowed into the hearing.

This story will be updated.

Contact staff writer Stephanie Rice at stephanie.rice@richmond.edu