Rights defenders call on the Azerbaijani authorities to release Ilham Aslanoglu

The Azerbaijan Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS) has condemned the country's authorities for arresting the lawyer, Ilham Aslanoglu, on defamatory charges, and demanded his immediate release.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 28, 2022, Aslanoglu was sentenced to five months in jail on charges of slander. On March 5, the court of appeal stopped his criminal prosecution and released Aslanoglu. The father of a deceased military serviceman abandoned his claims to Aslanoglu because of the revelations in the "Terter case", the convict himself has explained.

Activists believe that Ilham Aslanoglu is being persecuted for exposing the crimes committed by militaries against their colleagues as part of the "Terter case".

"The reason for his prosecution was in the statements voiced out by Aslanoglu in his interview on the "AzerFreedom" YouTube channel about mass torture in 2017 as part of the 'Terter case'," the IRFS said in its statement.

According to the authors of the statement, "in recent years, as part of the inquiry into mass torture in the Terter District, Aslanoglu was exposed to authorities' systematic pressure."

The authors of the statement believe that over the past two years, "Azerbaijani authorities have begun making use of a new tactic of arrests for defamation both against journalists and human rights defenders, and against opposition figures."