Afghan Sadigov ends hunger strike /UPDATED/

Baku/02.07.21/Turan: Founder of the Azel website.TV Afgan Sadigov today ended his hunger strike, which he had been lasting since November 4, 2020, to protest the unfair prison sentence, said his wife Sevinj Sadigova.

“Today I met with my husband and informed him about the decision of the Supreme Court. I asked him to stop the hunger strike because the action had already lost its meaning. With this in mind, Afghan stopped the action,” Sadigova wrote on her Facebook page.

A month after the start of the hunger strike, Sadigov was fed artificially. –06D-

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2021 July 02 (Friday) 13:33:00

The Supreme Court did not release a website owner who is on a hunger strike

Baku/02.07.21/Turan: On July 2, the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan partially satisfied the cassation appeal of the convicted founder of the site Azel.Tv Afgan Sadygov. The court reduced his sentence from 6 to 4 years of imprisonment.

"This is an unfair and illegal decision. The Prosecutor General received me and promised an objective examination of the case but failed to. If the case had been objectively and fairly considered, then the Afghan would have been acquitted and released.

As a matter of fact, this is none other than a" death sentence" for a person who refuses to eat on the 240th day demanding justice," his wife Sevinj Sadygova told Turan.

The defense in the cassation appeal asked to acquit Afgan Sadigov. This was motivated by the fact that there was no fact of extortion on his part in the case but there is incitement to receive a bribe. According to the precedent decisions of the ECHR, in such cases, a person cannot be subjected to criminal prosecution.

On the other hand, the imposition of a suspended sentence on another person involved in the case who directly received a bribe is illustrative of a planned provocation against Afgan Sadigov.

As the lawyer Zibeyda Sadygova explained, the prosecutor, referring to Article 62 of the Criminal Code, asked for a lesser sentence, taking into account the two young children in his care. At the same time, he proposed to reduce the imprisonment to 4 years of imprisonment. The judge agreed with this and reduced the sentence.

"The accused of tortures against the military in the "Terter case", where 111 people were recognized as victims, 8 of whom were killed, were sentenced to only 2-3 years. Although these persons faced imprisonment up to 11-12 years. Afghan Sadigov, despite the deterioration of his health as a result of 240 days of hunger strike, was given 4 years," the lawyer said.

The defense intends to file a complaint to the ECHR.

* Recall  that the head of Azel.TV Afgan Sadigov was arrested on charges of extortion by means of threats in May this year. On November 3, 2020, the court sentenced him to seven years of imprisonment. Since November 4, he has been on a hunger strike protesting against the unfair sentence. On January 28, the Court of Appeal reduced the sentence to 6 years of imprisonment. Local human rights activists recognized him as a political prisoner — - 03B06-