Civil Society Protection Committee Demands Release of Mehman Huseynov

The Civil Society Protection Committee (CSPC) demanded the release of the blogger Mehman Huseynov, a thorough investigation and punishment of those who kidnapped him on January 9 and caused him physical and moral suffering.

CSPC notes that on March 3, the Surakhani District Court sentenced the blogger and head of the Institute of Reporters Freedom and Safety Mehman Huseynov to two years of imprisonment under Article 147 of the Criminal Code (libel of a grave crime). The court considered slanderous the statement of Huseynov that after his kidnapping by the police on January 9, he was tortured.

The decision was made with a number of procedural violations without evidence of the blogger's guilt. The court violated the principle of adversarial trial, did not ensure the appearance of a private prosecutor, and did not satisfy any of the petitions of the defense.

The course of the trial and the statement of the presidential aide Ali Hasanov on the justification of the arrest of Mehman Huseynov demonstrate the open political background of this case and are another manifestation of the policy of repression against freedom of speech in Azerbaijan, violation of human rights, and suppression of freedom of thought, the statement said. -0-