SC commutes sentence of Azerbaijani blogger Aslan Gurbanov

Today, the Supreme Court (SC) of Azerbaijan has partially granted a cassation appeal of Azerbaijani blogger Aslan Gurbanov by reducing his term in Gobustan prison from two years to one year.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that Aslan Gurbanov was arrested by agents of the State Security Service in 2020 and sentenced to seven years of imprisonment. In late 2021, a court in Baku pronounced a decision to toughen the punishment for blogger Aslan Gurbanov by transferring him to Gobustan prison for two years. Aslan Gurbanov, convicted for posts in support of the Talysh people, should be released, note human rights defender Rufat Safarov and Talysh activist Khilal Mamedov.

Fariz Namazly, a blogger Aslan Gurbanov’s advocate, told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent that the defence appealed against the court’s decision to toughen the punishment. “Unfortunately, the Baku Court of Appeal (BCA) upheld the decision to transfer Aslan Gurbanov to the Gobustan prison with more severe conditions. Therefore, we appealed to the Supreme Court with a cassation appeal,” Fariz Namazly said.

Today, the Supreme Court has considered the complaint and granted it partially by reducing the sentence from two years to one year in Gobustan prison, the advocate notes.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 23, 2022 at 04:08 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.