Court of Appeal Reduces Sentence of Afgan Sadigov by One Year

Baku/28.01.21/Turan: The Sumgayit Court of Appeal on January 28 partially satisfied the complaint of the head of the azel.tv website Afgan Sadigov, reducing his prison sentence from 7 to 6 years in prison.

According to the lawyer Elchin Sadigov, the decision was made without a repeated trial.

Afgan Sadigov himself, who has been on hunger strike for 85 days, was not taken to court and joined the trial online.

“He felt bad and could hardly speak,” said the lawyer. According to him, the Penitentiary Service also submitted a document stating that Afgan Sadigov is on a hunger strike and his condition is "not good."

The defense will file a cassation appeal with the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights, the lawyer said.

Relatives of the journalist took the court decision extremely negatively. “Judge Mukhammedali Rzayev, having fulfilled the order, gave a verdict on Afgan’s death,” said the journalist's wife, Sevinj Sadigova.

* Head of Azel. TV Afgan Sadigov was arrested on charges of extortion through threats in May this year. On November 3, the court sentenced him to seven years in prison. Since November 4, he went on a hunger strike in protest, considering the sentence unfair.

Local human rights activists recognize him as a political prisoner. —16B-