Journalist Parviz Gashimli to be fully acquitted, his defence asserts

The Supreme Court of Azerbaijan has scheduled the consideration of the appeal against the sentence of journalist Parviz Gashimli for October 27. The defence intends to achieve full acquittal of the journalist, who is supported by the Minister of Justice of Azerbaijan and several members of the Parliament.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 15, 2014, Parviz Gashimli, the head of the website Moderator.az and the public association "Protection Centre of Citizens' Political and Civil Rights", was sentenced to eight years of imprisonment. Tavakkyul Gurbanov, another person involved in the case, was sentenced to 8.5 years of imprisonment. According to investigators, Parviz Gashimli and Tavakkyul Gurbanov entered a conspiracy with the aim to organize the sale of arms from Iran. The journalist denies all the charges filed against him.

On October 27, the appeal filed by Parviz Gashimli will be considered by the Supreme Court chaired by Judge Farkhad Kerimlov, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has been informed today by advocate Elchin Sadygov.

According to the defence, the Baku Court on Grave Crimes considered the Parviz Gashimli's case with bias. In particular, the Court dismissed a lot of the defence's motions and failed to conduct the objective investigation.

Parviz Gashimli himself believes that he fell victim to a provocation against him in connection with his human rights activities and opposition views. Elchin Sadygov has added he hopes that the Supreme Court will acquit Parviz Gashimli.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.