Murad Adilov sentenced to 6 years in prison

  Lankaran Serious  Crimes Court sentenced an activist of the Popular Front Party (APFP) Murad Adilova. He was found guilty under Article 234.4.3 (drug trafficking on a large scale) of the Criminal Code and sentenced to 6 years in prison. The prosecutor asked to condemn Adilov to 7 years in prison.

In the final speech Adilov said that he is being persecuted for political reasons -because of opposition and journalism activity of his  brother Natig Adilov who is  the  announcer of the Internet television program "Azerbaijani hour."

During the arrest and investigation Murad  was constantly questioned about the activities of his brother.

M.Adilov noted that their family members are being persecuted for freedom of expression.

However, he stressed that a prison sentence will not break him and he will not give up his political beliefs.

The lawyer Yalcin Imanov called the verdict unreasonable, illegal and unfair.

In passing sentence, the court  took  into account not evidence, but subjective conclusions of persecutors. If the court was based on a judicial investigation, he had to justify M.Adilov.

With regard to the preliminary investigation, the motion of the defense was ignored, the lawyer said,

The prosecution failed to present evidence, belonging of drugs to M.Adilov found in his homeee, as well as drugs "detected" in his clothes. Protection intends to appeal.

* Adilov Murad was arrested on August 11, 2014 in Sabirabad region. He is the brother of an employee of the newspaper "Azadlig", and the press secretary of the leader of PFPA Natig Adilov. Because of persecution and pressure Natig Adilov after the arrest of his brotherhe  was forced to leave Azerbaijan, and received asylum in France.-06D-