11:59, 27 December 2019

Court refuses to mitigate punishment to Azerbaijani oppositionist

Orkhan Bakhyshly. Screenshot of the video by the "Caucasian Knot" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE4zPMaiGaM

The court has refused to transfer Orkhan Bakhyshly, an activist of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), to a settlement colony, as he had asked in his complaint.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 18, 2018, Orkhan Bakhyshly, a PFPA activist, was sentenced to six years in prison on charges of drug dealing; later, his term was reduced to three years.

After serving one third of his prison term, Bakhyshly appealed to the court asking to mitigate the rest of his punishment. However, according to Zibeida Sadygova, his advocate, the colony administration has again characterized Bakhyshly negatively.

"The administration's conclusion again states that Bakhyshly is 'insincere, stubborn and arrogant, and hasn't repented of his deeds'," Ms Sadygova has explained, adding that Bakhyshly has the right to mitigating his punishment. "He is young, was convicted for the first time; he studied at the university. The arrest interrupted his education," Zibeida Sadygova has noted. Besides, according to her story, the activist has served a half of his term.

Orkhan Bakhyshly had actively participated in protests; he was criminally prosecuted for drug dealing after his speech at the grave of journalist, Elmar Guseinov, in which he imposed responsibility for Guseinov's murder on Azerbaijani authorities.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 27, 2019 at 00:09 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.