23:59, 4 June 2014

Azerbaijan: advocate of journalist Gashimli appeals against his verdict

Elchin Sadygov, the advocate of the Azerbaijani journalist and human rights activist Parviz Gashimli, who was sentenced to eight years in prison, has appealed against the verdict. The lawyer believes that Gashimli's criminal case was fabricated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Parviz Gashimli, an employee of the newspaper "Bizim Yol", the author of the website "Moderator.az" and the head of the Public Association "Centre for Defence of Citizens' Political and Civil Rights", was charged with an attempt of arranging a sale of weapons from Iran. To this end, according to investigators, Gashimli made a conspiracy with a citizen Tavakkyul Gurbanov.

Gashimli's rights were violated from the moment of his detention, said the lawyer. In particular, he was unable to contact a trusted advocate.

The Ministry of National Security (MNS) of Azerbaijan has refuted the claims of the political motivation of the criminal case against the journalist and the facts of physical and moral pressure on him.

Let us remind you that Gashimli's conviction was condemned by Dunja Mijatovic, the OSCE Representative on the Freedom of Mass Media. The verdict was also condemned by the international "Reporters without Borders".

See earlier reports: "Advocates of Azerbaijani journalist Gashimli ask the court to acquit him", "Azerbaijani journalist Parviz Gashimli stops his hunger strike", "Azerbaijani journalist Parviz Gashimli goes on hunger strike in SIZO".

Author: Faik Medzhid

Source: CK correspondent