In Azerbaijan, political scientist sentenced to four years of imprisonment

Rovshan Novruzoglu, an Azerbaijani political scientist and Director of the Centre for Fighting Corruption and International Terrorism, has been sentenced to four years of imprisonment with serving the punishment in a general custody colony.

Today, in his last plea at the court session Mr Novruzoglu has stated that he is not guilty and does not accept the charges presented to him. He has stated that he "made a mistake" not a crime, and that he hopes for a fair trial.

We remind you that Rovshan Novruzoglu was accused under three Articles of the Criminal Code: Article 310 ("Assignment of an official's powers"), Article 320.1 ("Production and use of forged documents") and Article 178.3.2 ("Swindle").

He was arrested in summer of 2007. According to the investigation, the political scientist presented himself to be an employee of law enforcement bodies and was engaged in extortion by showing forged documents.

The "Caucasian Knot" has already informed that Mr Novruzoglu is the author of about a dozen of fundamental works full of the classified information about Armenian terrorism, actions of the Armenian special services and their plans.