Supreme Court Reduces Avaz Zeynalli's Prison Sentence by 2 Months

On December 18, the Supreme Court reviewed the appeal of Avaz Zeynalli, founder of the online platform Xural TV, and Elnur Shukurov, head of the YouTube channel Sada TV. "Avaz Zeynalli rejected all accusations, stating that he is being persecuted for his journalistic activities. He reminded that he had already been convicted once for accepting a bribe, but the European Court had ruled that conviction unlawful," Zeynalli's lawyer, Fahraddin Mehdiyev,   said in a statement to Turan. The Supreme Court has reduced Zeynalli's prison sentence by only 2 months. He was originally sentenced to 9 years in prison.

As for Elnur Shukurov, the other defendant in the case, who was sentenced to 4 years in prison, his sentence was reduced by 1 year.

*Avaz Zeynalli and lawyer Elchin Sadigov were detained on September 10, 2023, on suspicion of accepting a bribe, and were arrested the following day. According to the investigation, Zeynalli, with Sadigov's assistance, received a bribe of 20,000 manats from the family of Rasim Mammadov, a businessman under arrest, in exchange for refraining from publishing damaging information about him. On September 17, the Baku Court of Appeals placed Sadigov under house arrest and separated his case into a separate trial.

Later, Zeynalli was charged with a new offense under Article 312-1.1 (illegal influence on a decision of a public official, also known as "trading in influence"). Elnur Shukurov was arrested under the same charge.

In February 2024, the Baku Serious Crimes Court sentenced Zeynalli to 9 years in prison and Shukurov to 4 years. In April, the appellate court upheld these sentences.