In Azerbaijan, activist sentenced to correctional labour and a fine

In Baku, a court found lawyer and blogger Aslan Ismailov guilty of hooliganism and sentenced him to a year of correctional labour and a fine of 900 US dollars. Aslan Ismailov associated the prosecution with his criticism of the authorities.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 8, 2013, the Presidium of the Azerbaijani Bar made a decision to suspend the Aslan Ismailov's advocacy. The decision was provoked by a complaint filed by Elnur Gasanov, Judge of the Sabail District Court of Baku, who claimed that the lawyer had insulted him. That happened after on February 10, Aslan Ismailov himself filed a complaint against the Judge to the Judicial-Legal Council and claimed his prejudiced attitude.

Today, the Binagadi District Court of Baku has completed the trial in the Aslan Ismailov's case. The lawyer was found guilty under the article on hooliganism, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by the court spokesperson.

The trial was conducted at the Binagadi District Court, despite the fact that the case was instituted at the complaint filed by the Judge of that particular court, noted the convicted lawyer.

"The criminal case was provoked by my indignation about the refusal of the same court a year ago to accept for consideration my claim against the leader [of one of the Azerbaijani parties]. I wrote on my Facebook page about the problems that worried people: medicines of poor quality sold in drugstores, drugs sold to oncology patients, although they were to get them for free, and illegal business of top-ranking officials. In that regard, an attack was organized against me in social networks, and it was organized by people from the authorities, one of whom resorted to slander," Aslan Ismailov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The lawyer has announced his intention to appeal against the verdict.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 23, 2018 at 06:15 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.