Opposition Activist Sentenced to Eight Years in Prison in Nakhchivan

In the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (NAR) the activist of the Popular Front Party Zeynal Bagirzadeh was sentenced to eight years in jail. Turan was told by his brother Yashar Bagirsoy, head of the regional branch of the party.

Bagirzadeh was arrested on 16 November last year under Article 315.1 (violent resistance to a government representative). According to the results of the preliminary investigation, the prosecution re-qualified the case into Article 315.2 (violent and life-threatening resistance to a government representative).

Babek District Court today admitted Bagirzadeh guilty under Article 315.2 and sentenced him to 4 years of imprisonment. In addition, the court considered as real term the remaining 4-year of suspended sentence on the previous sentence announced in 2012. The court replaced the prison sentence for 7.6 years for fraud by the same probation term.

Bagirsoy said his brother is pursued on political motives on trumped-up charges. He is convinced that against his brother planned provocation was made with the participation of employees of the local branch of the State Social Protection Fund (SSPF).

So, a few days before the arrest of Bagirzadeh his house in the village Nehram was visited by representatives of the State Social Protection Fund, demanding payment to the Fund. Bagirzadeh was out then and one of the officials named Faig Ismayilov gave insulting comments about the host. At the wife’s protests, the official insulted the woman. Later Bagirzadeh came to the Social Protection Fund, demanding an explanation why his wife was insulted. In response Ismayilov hit Bagirzadeh and together with two other officials began to beat him. Almost unconscious, he was thrown into the street and passers-by had to help him. Recovering, Bagirzadeh complained to the Prosecutor's Office of Babek. Two days later, he was summoned to the prosecutor's office and arrested. -06B-