Blogger Jamil Mammadli sentenced to 6 years in prison

The trial in the case of the blogger Jamil Mammadli ended in the Sumgayit Serious Crimes Court on April 17. Mammadli was arrested in August 2023 on charges under Articles 221.2.2 (hooliganism committed by a group of persons), 182.2.1 (extortion by threatening property) and 178.2 (fraud committed by a group of persons) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.

Today, the court dropped the charge of "extortion", but found him guilty of "fraud" and "hooliganism" and sentenced him to 6 years and 12 days in prison.

In his last statement, Mammadli denied the accusations. At the same time, he admitted that the incident of hooliganism after the accident did take place, but it did not cause damage to the health of the victims. At the same time, in court, the victims refused to claim against him.

Mammadli said that the criminal case against him was opened in order to punish him for reporting on social networks exposing illegal actions of officials in the northern region of the country. The defense intends to appeal the verdict.

Mammadli previously collaborated with the Azerbaijani service of “Radio Liberty.” In recent years, he has been posting mainly on social media. At the same time, several defamation lawsuits were filed against him, including by the former head of the Guba region. According to these claims, Mammadli was sentenced to correctional labor.  Mammadli was recognized by local human rights activists as a political prisoner.