Zeinally Secretly Transferred to Prison

The editor of the newspaper Khural, Avaz Zeinally was transferred from the primary investigation department in Baku to Prison N 10, his lawyer Elchin Sadigov told Turan.

Neither the lawyer nor Zeynally's family was informed about it and this was only announced two days later.

As noted by Sadigov, the transferral of Zeynally to prison without formal presentation of the decision, was a violation of the law. Previously, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal by Zeynally and upheld the decision of the court of first instance.

He also said that from the first day Zeynally encountered a firm attitude in prison: he is not allowed newspapers, meetings or phone conversations with family members.

The lawyer believes that this is done to keep Zeynally in suspense.

After 15-day quarantine, Zeynally will be transferred to prison.

* On March 12 the Baku Court of Grave Crimes found Zeynally guilty on counts - 311.3.3 (bribery on a large scale), 311.4 (extortion by threats), 306 (default of judgment) and 213.1 (evasion of taxes in a significant amount) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan and sentenced him to nine years in prison.

Zeynally was arrested in October 2011 on the complaint of ex-MP Guler Ahmadova, who herself is now under arrest for fraud.

However, it is the firm conviction of local and international human rights organizations, that he is being persecuted for political reasons coming from his critical publications. -16B06 -