Journalist ZiyaAsadli convicted on fabricated case - lawyer

Baku / 27.09.17 / Turan: Journalist Zia Asadli was convicted on a fabricated case, lawyer ElchinSadigov said. Against Asadli, a regional correspondent for the opposition newspaper Azadlig, a lawsuit was filed in the Bilasuvarregion police department in early May. The journalist then said that the pressure on him began after his video report from the protest action of the residents of the village of Khirmandaly inNeftchala region. A lawyer ElchinSadigov told Turan, thatAsadli was sentenced to five years of imprisonment by the BilasuvarRegional Court on September 5 and was taken into custody in the courtroom. Sadigov joined the defense of Asadli after the verdict, and wrote an appeal. The journalist was convicted on the complaint of a local tea-keeper. In fact,Assadli himself was attacked. On April 9, when he went to a local teahouse in the city of Bilasuvar, the tea-house said to him that "this is not a place for oppositionists." After this incident Asadli stopped going to this teahouse, for fear of provocation. However, on April 19, when the journalist passed the tea-house, the keeper of the tea house attacked him and struck several times.

Despite the fact that the journalist immediately reported on the attack on the duty service of the "102" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a lawsuit was filed against him under the Article 221.1 (hooliganism) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan. Later the case was re-qualified for a more serious Article 221.3 (hooliganism co lawsuit was filed on the use of weapons or an object used as a weapon). The journalist allegedly struck the administrator of the teahouse with a mobile phone on the head. The lawyer said that the preliminary investigation and the trial were not objective. "Witnesses" in the case were employees of the same teahouse. The defense appealed against the verdict and intends to seek an excuse for the journalist. -06D--