Sentence on Yadigar Sadigov Reduced

The Supreme Court today declined 6 months in the jail term for the deputy chairman of Musavat Yadigar Sadigov. This was on the Facebook page of the head of Musavat, Arif Hajili.

The head of the Public Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Sadigov Elman Fattah told Turan the Supreme Court reclassified the charges under Article 223.3 (hooliganism with use of a weapon) to 221.1 (hooliganism).

Thus, the court actually recognized the illegality of the arrest of Sadigov, he said. The fact is that Article 221.1 does not mean a preventive measure of arrest.

According to Fattah, the illegal pre-trial arrest of Sadigov confirms the political motives behind his prosecution.

In addition, in December 2014 Sadigov was unreasonably denied parole in connection with the departure of a third of his prison term, Fattah said.

The court explained this with the report from the jail in the spirit of Soviet times that Sadigov had "no interest in work."

The defense intends to file a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights.

* Sadigov was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct in June 2013 and by the decision of the Lankaran court he was sentenced to 6 years in prison. Subsequently, the Court of Appeal reduced the sentence to 4 years.

Human rights organizations recognize him as a political prisoner.

At the time of his arrest Sadigov was advisor to the head of Musavat.

In September 2014 he was elected vice-president of Musavat in absentia. -03B-