Another journalist arrested

Baku / 07.07.17 / Turan: By the verdict of the Imishli district court on July 6, the regional correspondent of the newspaper "Gundem Khabar", Mahbub Zulfugarli, was sentenced to five months of imprisonment. He was taken into custody in the courtroom.

The verdict was made by Judge Ulvi Gambarov, who recognized Zulfugarli as guilty under the Article 147.1 (slander).

Turan was informed about it by members of the journalist's family. The members of Zulfugarli's family reported that Mehbub was brought to trial after writing a letter to First Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva about lawlessness in the Imishli region.

In the letter, he criticized Saleh Samedov, the head of the State Committee for Metrology, Standardization and a Patent for the southern region, who also sued him. The human rights defender Ogtay Gulaliyev, who is currently in Imishli, believes that the journalist's arrest is connected with his critical publications.

The journalist was tried without a lawyer, and was not even allowed to say the last word. Zulfugarli's family members say that he was brought to trial after he complained to Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva about violations in the region.

Zulfugarli was regularly harassed for exposing materials about local businessmen and embezzlers, in particular, about embezzlement of funds allocated to eliminate the 2010 flood in the Imishli district. On July 5, 2011, in Imishli region he was beaten to the blood by some Azer Zahidov, but the case was hashed up. Despite Zulfugarli"s calls, the official bodies did not check his last publications about sugar and alcohol machinations by local producers.

Currently, more than 10 journalists and bloggers in Azerbaijan are being held under arrest because of their professional activities and expressions. -03B-