In Azerbaijan, court dismisses motion of editor-in-chief of newspaper "Khural" for re-qualifying charges against him

On June 6, at the Baku Court of Grave Crimes, Avaz Zeinalov, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Khural", stated that charges against him fall under the articles on libel and contempt of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan and asked to re-qualify them. However, the Judge dismissed the motion, stating that it could be considered at subsequent stages of the judicial investigation.

Avaz Zeinalov was arrested on suspicion of taking a bribe of large scale based on the complaint filed by the MP Gyulyar Akhmedova. Apart from Gyulyar Akhmedova, three more persons appealed to the Department to Combat Corruption and filed complaints about giving bribes to the journalist. Later, the journalist also faced charges of failure to fulfil court decisions and tax evasion.

Avaz Zeinalov spoke at the court session held on June 6 and claimed inconsistency of all evidence submitted by investigators. According to him, his actions contain no constituent elements of crime under Article "taking a bribe".

The journalist also denied the charges of failure to fulfil court decision and tax evasion. Thus, according to the journalist, the edition office and he personally had no financial resources to pay cash compensation for lawsuits, and, eventually, all the property of the newspaper "Khural" was confiscated.

According to Avaz Zeinalov, the subject of claims against him may be represented only by actions stipulated by Article 147 (libel) and 148 (insulting) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan, since he wrote that the MP Gyulyar Akhmedova blackmails him by offering monetary reward for refraining from criticizing the authorities.

"Thus, I ask the Court to bring the case to one of the district courts to conduct investigation under Articles "libel" and "insulting". However, I do not admit my guilt under that Articles and I am ready to defend my innocence at the trial," said Avaz Zeinalov.

His lawyers have supported the claim. However, Judge Allakhverdieva dismissed the motion, stating that it could be considered at subsequent stages of the judicial investigation, if necessary.