Supreme Court does not grant the protest of the prosecutor`s office against journalist

The Supreme Court of Azerbaijan has not satisfied the prosecutor's protest on  toughening penalties against the  journalist Elchin Hasanov , to sentence him to imprisonment. The Supreme Court upheld the decisions of the lower courts on the punishment of the journalist as a year of corrective labor,  Hasanov told Turan.

 The reason for this  lawsuit was an incident between Hasanov and head of the agency "Asia" Jafar Jafarov in February 2015.On   June1,  2016 the court sentenced him to one year of corrective labor.

The prosecutor's office appealed the verdict, demanding to reclassify charge on heavier - 221.3 (hooliganism with the use of bladed weapons) of the Criminal Code, and to toughen punishment to 3.5 years in prison.

However, the Court of Appeal did not toughen the punishment, and upheld the verdict of the trial court. Nevertheless, the prosecution filed a protest to the Supreme Court again in November last year.

Nevertheless, there is still  the threat of arrest of the journalist is. The reason for that can be "no execution" they sentence. The fact is, that Hasanov has no paid work to transfer 20% of income on account of execution of the sentence. If until February, he did not accept the official work, it may be deprived of liberty for up to one year.

* Hasanov is the deputy editor of the Sumgait Internet newspaper "Yukselish Namine» (yukselis.info), which  due to financial problems  is not issued.  In addition, he is a member of the Supreme Majlis of PFPA, deputy head of the NGO "Legal Education of Sumgait Youth" and an activist of the Committee to protect civil society.  The beginning of a  lawsuit against Hasanov coincided with his publications on the topic of corruption and embezzlement in  the army.-06B--