Rights defenders: verdict to editor-in-chief of "Tolyshi Sado" is politically motivated

According to the lawyer Khalid Bagirov, the verdict passed on the case of Hilal Mamedov, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Tolyshi Sado" (Voice of Talysh), was based on falsified data. The conviction was also criticized by Dunja Mijatovic, the OSCE Representative on the Freedom of Media, and leaders of human rights organizations of Azerbaijan and Russia.

Let us remind you that on September 27 the court found Hilal Mamedov guilty of treason, inciting interethnic hatred and drug possession and sentenced him to five years in a high security colony.

Khalid Bagirov has treated the verdict as illegal, unfair and politically motivated. In his opinion, the court has falsified the facts.

Emin Guseinov, the director of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS), has noted that Mamedov's rights to the freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution of Azerbaijan and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) had been violated. He reminded that currently Azerbaijani prisons keep nine journalists.

The Mamedov's conviction was also condemned by Dunja Mijatovic, the OSCE Representative on the Freedom of Media, who has also expressed concern about the recent arrests of Parviz Gashimli, a journalist of the "Bizim Yol" newspaper, and Sardar Alibeili, the editor-in-chief of the "P.S. Nota" newspaper.