22:56, 15 April 2019

In Azerbaijan, four political prisoners request CER

Relief of the activists in Azerbaijan. March 18, 2019. Photo by Aziz Karimov for the "Caucasian Knot"

Out of 30 political prisoners, whose conditional early relief (CER) is being sought by activists of the campaign "Free All!", four filed appropriate motions to the courts of Azerbaijan. Other political prisoners are also preparing requests for the CER.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 13, motions were sent to the General Prosecutor's Office with requests for the CER of more than 30 political prisoners.

On March 16, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev pardoned 431 prisoners, including 51 political prisoners, on the occasion of the Nowruz holiday. 87 political prisoners are still kept at the country's prisons, the Union "For the Freedom of Political Prisoners of Azerbaijan" reports.

Three of the prisoners who requested the CER were sentenced under the "Said Dadashbeyli's case," reported Rasul Djafarov, the head of the Human Rights Club.

"In 2007, they were sentenced in the case on the preparation of a coup and religious radicalism ... They are very educated people who worked for Western companies, and they were engaged in charity," reported Rasul Djafarov.

The court found Said Dadashbeyli guilty of cooperating with radical Islamists with the aim to create a religious state with the Sharia law. The defendants called the case fabricated.

Furthermore, a request for the CER was also filed by Ziya Asadli, a correspondent of the newspaper "Azadliq".

In September 2017, Ziya Asadli was sentenced to three years of imprisonment. According to investigators, he hit a teahouse administrator with his mobile phone. Ziya Asadli treated the criminal case against him as the revenge of the law enforcement bodies for his reports on the protests of residents in the Neftchala District.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 15, 2019 at 04:24 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Faik Medjid

Source: CK correspondent